Grudge of the Asakura
by sweeneykitkat
Summary: ﻿A terrible discovery. A horrific death. When the body of Asakura Yoh is found in his parent’s closet, the group is grief stricken. Enter first chappy for full summary. Chapter 12 has been rated M!
1. Foreshadow

**Title:** Grudge of the Asakura

**Rating:** T+

**Summary:** A terrible discovery. A horrific death. When the body of Asakura Yoh is found in his parent's closet, the group is grief stricken. Mourning for their lost friend, they wonder who would commit such a crime, so Lyserg begins an investigation, determined to find the culprit but this is not the only thing they have to worry about, for something now creeps within the hotel, wreaking havoc upon the shamans, and soon tracking down the mystery killers.

**Chuck:** Hey all! This is my newest fic, and probably my darkest yet." I'm not really sure how the Japanese school system works, so I'm just gonna have it that they have school Mon-Fri, then get the weekend off. Well enjoy!

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**Chapter 01**

**Foreshadow**

It's funny to think about how wether a story be happy or tragic in the end, it usually starts out with blue skies and warm sunshine. It's as if the setting itself is trying to foreshadow the coming events. Snap!

"Lyserg-chan, would you quit it with that camera."

"But I must Tamao! With this camera, I shall become the world's greatest detective! I gotta try it out.

" Tamao giggled as the emerald shaman continued to snap photographs of her and their friends. It was a warm Saturday afternoon as the shamans hung out at the Oyamada mall. As usual it was packed. The building's construction had just finished a month ago, so everyone was intrigued to see how Oyamada Mansumi had once again improved the quality of things around them. Humans; so foolish. These were the thoughts of Hao Asakura as he sat at a fountain with his friends, sipping an orange juice.

"Lyserg-chan, stop!" Tamao smiled as Lyserg snapped another photo.

"Aw, come on, Tamao. You know you're loving every moment of it."

Ryu looked to the two, then smiled softly. It had been so awkward at first, when he finally admitted the feelings that he shared for both of the shamans. He had been worried they would make him choose, but they were quite mature about. They waited for a few days, then they both approached him with an idea

"So, how's the RLT today?"

Ryu looked to Yoh then smiled. RLT; this was the result of the feelings that all three shaman's felt for each other. When Lyserg and Tamao confessed that they two were finding attraction in each other, this is what they came up with. Not a romantic couple, but a romantic trio. The R stood for Really, L stood for Lovely, and T stood for Team. Really Lovely Team. "We're just fine, Danna? How are you and Manta doing?"

Yoh giggled, then looked down to the small boy who was staring off into space. "We're doing okay."

Manta watched a family enter a electrical restaurant. The place was literally run by robots. They we're fast, efficient, and never asked for a raise. A true money saver. "From electronics, to malls. My dad will soon own the world." Arms suddenly wrapped around him and lifted him up. He was placed on a lap.

"But, I shall always own you."

"Yoh-kun . . ." The small boy blushed.

"What a disgusting display!"

Ren looked to Horo. "You're all grouchy. What's you're problem."

"It's just . . . . Look at how they're all acting. They're laughing, smiling, you know; actually showing that they care about each other. Why don't you do that with me?"

The Tao sighed, as he took a drink of his milk. "Horo, when you told me you loved me, I made you aware that I may not always show it."

"Yeah, but you don't show it at all!"

"Hmm." Ren became quiet as he thought.

"Don't worry, Horo."

The Ainu looked to Hao.

"He's just trying to hide his feelings for me."

"Nani!" Ren jumped to his feet. "Oh yeah! Come on Horo! I'm getting you an ice cream!"

As the two stormed off, Yoh giggled then looked to his brother. "Well, ya got him acting like he owns Horo. That's a start."

Hao sighed as he watched two run to the ice cream stand. "Poor boy. I'm just so irresistible."

"Uh, Hao?" Yoh waved his hand in front of his brother's face, then not receiving a response, sighed, and looked to Amidamaru. "So, you and the spirits are all going out tonight, right?"

"Aa, Yoh-dono. We probably wont be back until morning."

"Aa. Having a bit of ghostly bonding I see?"

"Uh . . . something like that . . ." The samurai couldn't bring himself to tell his master that they were all going to get drunk on Funbari Hill.

Yoh smiled. "That actually works out pretty good, cause we've got that big dinner planned for tonight. You know, at that restaurant my Mom's been dying to check out."

Hao chuckled. "I bet mom just likes the attention from the staff who see her staring in the window."

":Hey Asakura!"

"Uh?" The group all looked over, then sighed. There stood the local bullies.

The first boy was Hitomo Takeshi, an average sized boy, not very built, but not a weakling. His hair was silver, and his eyes were a deep emerald color. He was the leader of the group. An interesting point about him was, when ever he was worried, scared or even caught in a lie, he began to talk funny, using a lot of bad grammar and adding S's to words. Truly an odd boy.

The next was Miano Yoko. This boy could be summed up quite easily as an evil version of Ren personality wise. He had an unintentional Goth look, his hair black with a few thin streaks of blond at the front and his eyes a deep silver, much like Hao's. His shirts were usually dark blues, greens and purples, while he usually wore long jeans that covered his boots. What separated Yoko from Ren was the sadistic personality that could sometimes get him into trouble, or even get him out of trouble.

Junen, the third boy was in a league of his own. If he hadn't known them since kindergarten, he would probably be one of the kids they picked on. With red hair that he kept back in a pony tail, a jean jacket and sparkling blue eyes, he was nicest of the group. Out of the 4 boys, he was the only one who didn't actually pick one anyone. He watched and would occasionally help with pranks, but if his friends ever got to violent or cruel, it was his duty to stop them, or at least help them to tone down their actions. He was probably the one that kept them from crossing the line between bullies, and criminals.

Now, the final member of the group was the strangest of all. He was massive, about 8 inches taller than Hao, not as smart as others and very built. He had short brown hair, and big blue eyes. His name was Yamato Goro, and he was an ill boy. Goro had a split personality disorder. One moment he would be a normal bully, picking on the cheerleaders, throwing kids in their locker, but if Goro got really mad . . . . it never ended well. He was like an Asian version of the Hulk, without the green skin, and shirts being torn off. At the age of ten he put his math teacher in a coma. Nowadays, it was rare to see the boy actually become this beast, because he took special classes to help him stay calm, but the knowledge of it was able to strike fear in anyone one who dared to anger the boy, even the teachers. There was only one person in the whole school who wasn't frightened by it; Yoh.

Now, it wasn't because he was a shaman that Yoh didn't fear it, in fact several months ago he had been the same as his friends and class mates, but then his history teacher, Fujiyama-san, volunteered him to be Goro's tutor. The teacher had told Yoh he had chosen him, because Yoh himself was sort of odd, so the two might get along. The first few sessions were quiet, usually consisting of Yoh reading pages from books that he himself hardly understood, then after a month, Yoh began renting tapes and coming up with strange games they could play to help remember the text. After two weeks of this, Goro's marks went from a D- to a B-. After this, Yoh and Goro had developed a certain understanding towards each other, and though Yoh would occasionally talk to the air, and Goro was more brawns then brains, they agreed that Yoh would continue to tutor the boy in the subject. It was this that often also kept Yoh from getting the more extreme bullying from the group, though as you are about to find out, he still did got teased.

"So Asakura, you still into taking to air?"

Yoh stared at Takashi quietly.

"What's the matter? Did the blood flow get cut off from your brain again."

"I'm just wondering which one of us you're talking to. Hao is sitting right next to me."

Hao snickered.

Goro looked to the twin. "Can it, fruit face!"

Hao tilted his head. "Fruit face? That doesn't really make any since considering I don't really resemble any fruit; at least not any fruit I know."

Yoko grinned. "Oh really? Well, allow me to help you out." He suddenly grabbed the orange juice from Hao's hands and through it in his face.

"Hey!" Junen tapped Yoko's shoulder. "Citric Acid. It can damage the eyes."

"Oh for . . . fine." Yoko suddenly pushed Hao back into the fountain. "There! All clean."

"Grrrrrrr!"

"Hao, no!"

The angered shaman jumped up and was about to summon Spirit of Fire, when Yoh suddenly grabbed his arms. "You promised me Hao! You promised!"

Hao froze hearing this, then slowly sat down and sighed. "Aa, ototo."

Takahi grinned. "Oh, what was he gonna do? Pass gas before us!" Yoko and him began to laugh, then walked away as Junen followed, shaking his head in disapproval.

Yoh began to dry Hao off with some napkins, when he suddenly felt something placed in his hand. "Nani?" He looked, and saw Goro crouched down in front of him.

"That should be enough to pay for his drink."

Yoh stared for a moment, then grinned. "Sankyuu!"

The bully nodded, then lifted himself up and began to walk away.

"Oh! Goro!"

"Hm?" He turned to Yoh.

"I'm gonna have to cancel tonight's meeting. My family's going out to dinner and . . ."

"No problem. I've got some plans anyway."

"Alright."

And with that the bully turned away and continued back to his friends.

Yoh smiled then looked back to his brother, who now looked miserable. "Gomen, Hao. I know things have been hard ever since you came home."

"I hate this."

"Nani?"

"In Shaman Fight people ran in terror at the sound of mine name, now . . . they just throw juice in my face."

Yoh sighed, and laid his head down on his shoulder.

"Sankyuu, Onichan. For putting up with them . . . and with me."

Hao looked to his brother then smiled. "There's no problems dealing with you. It's just everyone else."

"Even me?"

Hao looked to Manta then sighed. "Baka. Okay, so it's not everyone. It's just . . . humans."

The Asakura had been found a week after the shaman fight and had been held by the Pach members. Silva contacted Yoh and told him Hao was alive, and asked what they should do with him. Yoh told them to aid him back to health, and that he would go to America to bring him home. After weeks of medical care, Yoh told the group that he was going on a special training mission, and that he had to be alone. When he returned with Hao, there was a great deal of controversy. The shaman complained that Yoh hadn't taken their feelings into consideration, but Yoh finally convinced them that Hao deserved a chance to live a normal life with his family. It was several months later now, and Yoh was somehow able to give a reasonable excuse for his brother's absence. The most excepting was his history teacher, Fujiyama-san. So now Hao was a normal member of the house-hold, but even though his past was now behind him, he feared that the others still didn't accept him and he had trouble dealing with the ignorant humans who flaunted their wealth. The only thing that kept him from destroying the whole race was the love he now received from his brother and the promise that he would never take another life unless it was absolutely necessary. So, rather than hunt the filth down and cremate them where they stood, he simply sighed and allowed his brother to comfort him. "Silly little Ototo."

It was 4:30 when the group was finally heading back to the hotel.

Yoh was carrying Manta on his shoulder's while Ryu had an arm wrapped around Lyserg and Tamao. Ren looked to Yoh and smiled. "So we missed a little spar, did we?"

Yoh nodded.

"You know, I think Goro might have a crush on you, Yoh."

"Nani!" Yoh looked to his brother who now carried a devious grin. "Come on, he payed you back for a drink that wasn't even yours."

There was a soft growl from atop Yoh's head.

Yoh smiled. "Daijoubu, Manta. I'm just his tutor."

The Oyamada sighed, the hopped off Yoh's head. Alright, I gotta get to cram school now.

"You have cram school on Saturdays!"

Manta nodded, then hugged Yoh's leg. "Be strong Yoh-kun. I'll see ya tomorrow."

"Alright," and so the small boy went off on his own.

The group soon arrived back in the Funbari district, exhausted from the train ride home. It would be another 17 minutes when they finally arrived back at the hotel.

Horo and Ren were fighting about how good Ryu's dinner had been the night before compared with his other dinner's. After a moment of arguing, Ren finally asked Yoh what he thought.

"Uh, on a scale of 1to10, 3 being the highest, I'd give it a 12!"

It was decided. It was as good as his others.

There was a rustle in the bushes, then a man suddenly stepped out. "Hey! Are you Asakura Yoh?"

Yoh looked up. "Uh, yeah."

The man eyed Hao for a moment, then cringed. "So it's true then. You did bring the beast back here."

"Beast? What . . ." Yoh was cut off when a series of green blasts suddenly shot at him. To avoid getting hit, he began pulling strange dodging maneuver, when a sharp pain suddenly shot through his left leg. Losing his balance, he fell.

"Yoh!" Hao shot in front of Yoh and blocked the rest of the blasts with Spirit of Fire

Terrified, the man jumped back and began to flee. "You'll pay for bringing that creature here."

Hao watched the man runaway, then looked down to his brother. "What happened? I didn't see any of the blasts hit you."

Yoh chuckled sheepishly, while holding his leg. Small tears were forming in the corners of his eyes. "Well, I kinda twisted it and well . . . yeah."

Horo Horo frowned. "So! What's the big deal?"

"Horo, you dummy." Hao hoisted Yoh into his arms and began to carry him. "He probably sprained it."

The Ainu received a few sharp kicks to the shin, then he began to complain. "Well, you can't be sure that it's sprained!"

"It's sprained."

Hao smirked at the Ainu when the doctor revealed his analysis to the group. They we're down in the basement, which Faust had turned into his medical lab.

Mikihisa thought for a moment then sighed. "Gomen Yoh, but if you're leg's hurt, we can't risk damaging it more."

"So . . . we're not going to dinner?"

"Well . . . you're not."

"WHAT!"

Miki sighed. "You're mom's been wanting to go to this place for a while, and I rally don't want to disappoint her. Besides, we went and saw a movie this after noon, and the ticket booth guy wouldn't stop hitting on her. She was actually getting really uncomfortable. Then when I told the guy we were married and had kids, he went psycho and started saying how he was going to make her his one way or another."

Yoh was silent for a moment, then started up again. "But dad!"

Hao smiled. "Don't worry, Yoh. I can hang back here with you."

"Actually . . . you can't."

"What!" Hao looked to his dad. "And why not!"

"Hao, Yoh's never really been home alone before."

"He hasn't?"

"No."

Hao looked to his brother, then after a moment of silence, began to laugh his full head off. "You've never been home alone before! You're such a wuss!"

"Hey! I thought you were on my side, Hao!"

"I was until I heard that! Look Ototo, I love you, but that's just lame. Everyone's gotta be home alone sometime in their life."

"But . . ."

"No buts!" Miki helped Yoh to limp up the stairs then smiled. "Daijoubu, Yoh. Everything will be fine."

And so, even though Yoh didn't like it, the group told him when they'd be coming hom and after several hours the gang left for dinner.

Soon, as they we're seated in the restaurant Keiko sighed. "Thank you for bringing me here, Anata. And thanks for coming kids."

The group smiled, then Keiko found herself growing sad. "I wish Yoh could've come."

"Daijoubu. He'll be fine, besides, he was gonna get left home aloe sooner or later."

"I know, but even the spirits are out."

"He'll be fine."

After 10 minutes of waiting, the dinner was placed on the table, and the shaman all dug in. Mikihisa had just slurped a noodle, when the jungle off his cell phone went off. He sighed, then flipping the lid up, he gave the caller an exasperated greeting. "Hello, Yoh."

"Uh, Dad? When are you and everyone coming home?"

"Yoh, we told you we'd try and get home tonight, but we might have to stay in a hotel here."

"Oh . . . um . . .right! I forgot."

"Yoh? Daijoubu?"

The group looked up from their food hearing Miki's words.

"Uh, yeah. I'm fine. I'm think I'm . . . just getting a little paranoid being here alone. That's all."

Miki sat up a little hearing a strange tone in his son's voice. "Yoh?"

"It's just, I'm not used to being here alone and . . . well . . . I know I'm a teenager now and I'm supposed to be used to being alone, but . . . I've never really been left alone here without Amidamaru and, it hurts to walk, and . . ."

"Yoh . . . are you scared?"

Hao looked up to is dad. "Dad, let me talk to him."

"Hold on, Yoh. You're brother wants to talk to you."

Hao took the cell phone. "Yoh, it's okay to be a little scared. Heck, you don't even have a sprit with you. I'd be a little worried too, but it's okay. If you're really worried, why not call Manta? That would probably make you feel better."

"Uh, okay. Thanks, Oni-chan."

Hao flipped the lid down, then handed the phone back, while sighing. "Geez! He's got the whole lost puppy sound to him and everything. You really made a mistake not leaving him alone when he was little."

"I know." Mikihisa became quiet with thought, then sighed. "I hope he'll be alright."

After about and hour of dinner, the dessert finally arrived.

Ryu smiled. "It's nice to have people serving me, rather then they other way around for once."

Anna sighed. "Don't think you're getting out of breakfast tomorrow."

"Hai, Anna-san!"

There was a period of silence as the group indulged themselves in the glorious chocolate cake that was brought, then Miki's cell phone suddenly went off again. "Hm?" He took it from his pocket, then flipped the lid up. "Hai! Muchi muchi? Hm?" He listened for a moment.

"Anata? Daijoubu?" Keiko, along with the others, watched as Mikihisa held the phone to his ear.

"What is it, Dad?"

After a moment, Miki frowned and flipped the lid closed. "Prank call, I guess. Hmp! What some kids will do these days."

Lyserg took a small bite of cake. "What did they say?"

"Well, there wasn't really any words. There was a strange rattling sound, and I thought I heard a weird 'Ah' sound, then I think I heard a few voices in the background, then there was some banging, and a weird scratching noise."

"Was that it?"

Miki looked to Ren, then nodded. "Yeah. They hung up after that."

Horo sighed. "Probably Takeshi, and his gang again. They've been pulling prank calls like that for the past two months. They get the whole weird sounds going and everything. Stupid Jerks. They even pulled it on Ren last week"

Ren smiled. "You wouldn't do anything like that, would you?"

"Nah! I'd probably call some unsuspecting babysitter and ask her if she's checked the children in a really messed up voice, but I wouldn't pull anything freaky like that."

The Tao rolled his eyes, then finished his cake.

The next morning, the family returned home. It had began to when they tried to return home, so they stayed at a hotel in the city.

"Yoh! We're back!" Hao swung the door open, then smiled seeing the place was still intact. "No wild parties for Ototo I guess."

Anna smiled. "Just as it should be. Ryu, Tamao,get to work!"

"Hai, Anna-san!"

As the group began to settle, Ryu walked into the kitchen then became horrified. "Danna dumped a pot of noodles on the floor! My kitchen floor!"

Anna poked her head in then sighed in annoyance. "Have Tamao clean it up after she's done upstairs."

Tamao busied herself throughout the upstairs hall, sweeping and dusting whenever she had to do. As she did she noticed strange, long markings on the floor. "Mm?" Placing a hand on one, the rose shaman began to feel it. It was engraved into the wood. "Scratches? Hm." She shrugged then after finishing in the hall, she entered Mikihisa and Keiko's room. The room was relatively clean, though their were a few magazines scattered around. She giggled. "Messy Mikihisa-san." She picked them up, then after placing the thin paper books on a night table, she continued her usual tidying up session, while peeking at the markings in the halls every once in awhile. As she did, she noticed there was a bit of red on the phone that sat on Mikihisa's night table. "Lipstick? I'll have to get to it after the futon is done." Where were all these discoveries come from? She was about to make the futon when she made yet another discovery. The sheets on the bed, though they we're messy, were fresh from the linen closet. "Hm. I'm gonna have to mention this to Anna-san." She had just finished making up the futon, when she heard a strange sound. "Nani?" She looked around, then only hearing silence, began fluff the pillows. "Probably just imagined it." It came again. This time, much louder. It was definitely not her imagination. The thumping seemed to be coming from the closet. She never usually opened the closet; the fear of Mikihisa or Keiko entering the room and thinking she was snooping was enough to drive the curiosity out of the girl, but she had never heard any strange sounds coming from it before. Her first thought, perhaps it was an animal. But what animal made a thumping sound like this? Thumper, the rabbit from Bambi! She slapped her forehead. That was an even more childish thought then Yoh would have, and besides, even if it were the famous rabbit, the sounds would be rapid, while these were sudden. So, breaking her vow never to look in other people's closets, she slid open the door. Nothing. There were boxes, some hung up clothes, and an old guitar, but nothing alive. Thud! There it was again; above her. She looked up, and found their was a trap door in the ceiling, possibly the entrance into a secret attic.

"Tamao-chan! Lunch!"

"In a minute, Ryu!" She was a little short, so standing on a box, she lifted the door up and peered into the darkness. Nothing. "Tamao, you're really losing your marbles." She stepped down and began to move the box back into it's original position, when something suddenly hung down from the opening. "Nani?" She glanced up a little to see a flash of dark hair above her, but before she could fully see what it was, it fell from the hole, and knocked her to the floor. "Ow!" She sat up, now outside the closet, then cursing under her breath, she looked up.

As Ryu placed the last plate on the table, he jumped when he heard a horrified scream, that could only belong to Tamao. "Tamao-chan!" As he raced to the stairs, he saw the others had also heard. Mikihisa was in the lead.

"Tamao! Daijoubu!" The masked man shot into his room, then froze, when he saw what caused the girl to scream.

He was silent, staring with eyes that were now dark and empty. His flesh had become a porcelain pale, his only color being the crimson that stained his body, and matted his hair. The robe he usually wore to bed, was all that kept his body from being fully exposed, and even that was now torn in many areas.

"Oh god . . ." Miki dropped to his knees, as he went into shock. Hanging before him, like a twisted doll, was the body of his son.

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**Chuck:** So, how was it? Sorry if it was kinda rushed, but I was getting desperate to post it. Well, Please R&R! 


	2. The Body

**Chuck:** Hey All! I'm glad there are actually people who are reading this. As I said, this is my first dark fic, so I'm hoping that I can do a good job on it. I dedicate this chappy to Lost to Reality, and all the other Yoh fans out there!

**Please R&R!**

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**Chapter 02**

**The Body**

Birds sung, and the sun shone. All was peaceful as a pair of children biked by, while a butterfly sought the comfort of a flower. The world outside was oblivious to the grim serenity that the shamans found in the upstair's bedroom.

Silence. The room seemed to be growing darker as they stared upon the limp figure. Not even the soft rays of light that shone through the windows could ease the aura of despair that now flooded the room.

Ryu found himself becoming nauseated, when he suddenly found Tamao staring at the boy with large eyes.

"Tamao-chan?"

She didn't respond.

"Tamao-chan!" He ran to the girl's side, then allowed her to hide her face in his chest.

"Oh my god!" Lyserg placed a hand over his face and began to tremble.

"Dude . . . is that Yoh? It can't be Yoh! Tell me that's not Yoh!"

Ren stared for a moment, then embraced the Ainu as he broke down.

"Yoh?" Miki quickly looked and found Keiko staring in disbelief.

"Keiko."

The woman stared upon her fallen child, his eye's blank and his expression frozen. "Yoh! Baby?"

"Keiko!" Mikihisa jumped up and embraced the women as she began to weep. "Oh, Keiko. I'm so sorry."

Faust quickly pushed his way through the group, then began to examine the pale shaman. "Oh dear . . ." He felt Yoh's face, the became sickened when he found a ring of black and blue around his throat. "He's cold. Very cold . . . He's been out for several hours."

"Dad? What is it?"

Hao had been in the bathroom, so he wasn't able to come when Tamao first screamed.

Keiko hid her face in her husband's chest as she sobbed. "Hao, don't come in!"

He entered the room, regardless of his mother's words, then stared seeing the limp boy hanging out of the closet. His eyes's widened in a child-like manner. "Dad, what's wrong with Yoh?"

Miki cringed. "Someone get him out of here!"

"Otouto!" Hao shot by the doctor and began to shake Yoh, but Ren and Horo grabbed his arms, and began pulling him out of the room. "Get off of me! Yoh! What's wrong with you? Are you okay! Otouto!"

* * *

It was an hour later when paramedics were finally called. The group had no idea what they should do for the lifeless shaman. Should they keep him from the public, or allow an investigation to take place? They finally decided they would have a proper coroner examine Yoh to identify the what the cause of death was, but they wouldn't get the police involved. The last thing they wanted was his death all over the front pages for everyone to gawk at. Faust had resisted for half and hour about calling in another doctor to handle the corpse, but finally gave in when even Eilza convinced him he didn't have the qualifications or mental stability to examine the body without freaking out.

The body. The corpse. The limp figure. How it sickened the group to use such crude terms to describe the once sweet and drifty boy, but that's how it was now. The spirits had looked around the hotel to see if Yoh's spirit was hanging around, but nothing was found. They concluded that he was either trapped in his body, or he had returned to Great Spirit.

So now they all sat in the living room, trying to accept the fact that Yoh was gone, while his body still hung from the closet. They wanted to move him, provide some comfort even though they knew he was no longer there, but they were instructed to not touch him. This left the already sad mother even more heart broken, so she now laid on the couch with her head in her husband's lap, dreaming of a time when her son's happy smile was something that would have brighten the dark events of the day. The other members of the household had their own way of accepting the situation. Horo and Ren sat together, Horo holding the Tao's hand. Ryu sat cradling Tamao in his arms, who was slowly crying herself to sleep. The final member of the RLT, however, was not present in the room.

He stood at the entrance of the room, still staring at the body. True, he was overwhelmed by the sorrow for his friend; but, as he looked upon the dead shaman, a feeling of anger was beginning to make itself known. Who had done this? Why? He took a deep breath, then asking Yoh's spirit for forgiveness, lifted his camera and snapped the first photo of his investigation.

* * *

"How is she?" Faust entered the room, and sat in a chair across from the couch, a large mug of coffee in hand.

Miki sighed. "She's starting to calm down."

"Well, sleep should provide her a little comfort. How are you?"

The husband shook his head sadly. "I'm . . . dealing."

"If you need to cry, you should."

"No. I have to let Keiko and Hao deal first, then I''ll have my time." As he finished his words, he looked down at his son who sat quietly, staring off into space. "This all feels like a nightmare."

Lyserg finally came down the stairs and joined his two lovers.

Ryu wrapped his other arm around him, then found himself having trouble holding back his tears.

"I don't understand."

The group looked to Anna, who looked confused for the first time. "I don't understand. This isn't what's supposed to happen. Yoh's supposed to be alive. He's supposed to . . . slack off and sneak in-between snacks during his rice diet." Tears began to weld up in the blonde's eyes. "I . . . I don't understand." She suddenly turned from the others, trying to weakness she felt welling in her eyes.

"Oh dear." Faust quickly ran to her aid, and began to comfort her.

"It's so strange, Daddy."

Miki looked down to his son. "Nani?"

"Otouto was just hanging there. Not moving. Not talking. Just . . . staring at us . . ."

By this time, Keiko had just been opening her eyes and she heard her son's words.

The boy looked to his mother. "Was he playing a trick on us, Mama?"

"Hao . . ." She wrapped her arms around the boy, then began to cradle him. "Shhh . . . It's alright, honey."

There was a knock at the door, then they heard someone enter. The Paramedics?

"Yoh-kun! You guys, I'm back! God, last night was so annoying! Too-san was out so I had to babysit Mannoko, and . . ." Manta had slipped his shoes off at the door, and ran into the living room, then froze seeing the state of the shamans and spirits. "Uh, guys? What's wrong?" He examined the group, then frowned when he saw a member missing. "Where's Yoh-kun?"

Faust looked over to the small boy. "Oh . . . Manta . . . ."

"Where's Yoh-kun?" Not receiving an answer, he dropped his bag, and shot up the stairs. "Yoh-kun?"

"Manta no!" Miki, followed by the group, with the exception of Hao, chased after him, but it was too late. There was a moment of silence, then a horrific cry filled the hotel. How could they have forgotten that the Oyamada was coming home that morning?

* * *

It was twenty minutes later when the paramedics finally arrived. They looked upon the corpse and became sickened.

"Kids these days," was all one of the men could say, as he lowered Yoh from his final resting spot. Placed in a body bag, the young shaman was strolled out of the house and lifted into the vehicle, where he would be rushed away from his home, and examined by strangers.

"Should we come?"

The larger man looked to Miki, then shook his head. "It's usually better if the family just stays home. It's not like going to check on someone who's broken their leg. This is death, and I think you all have seen enough of it for one day." And with that, the man apologized for their loss, then sped away.

Keiko sniffed while leaning against her husband. "I can't believe . . . they just took him like that. They didn't even ask what happened. Don't they care?"

"You have to understand, Keiko-san, that these men see death every day of their lives. Asking questions would probably just make things harder for them and us."

She nodded at the doctor, now understanding then sighed as she looked up. "It's almost cruel how sunny it is today. It's like there's something up there just teasing us."

"Come on, Anata. Let's get you inside." Miki led Keiko and Faust into the hotel then looked upon the group and spirits as they sat quietly. "Is . . . everyone alright?" Silence was his response. "Alright, um . . ." Not being able to find the words to comfort them, he sighed and dropped back down into the couch. He suddenly realized something. Hao was no longer sitting by the couch. "Where did Hao go?"

The group looked up clueless.

Keiko's eyes widened. "He's missing!"

The masked man jumped up and began to look around the room, then, cursing under his breath, he grabbed his jacket and began to leave the hotel.

Amidamaru became confused, as the group shot after him."Wait, where are you going?"

"Where Hao's gone. To the hospital."

* * *

The men had been in a hurry to get Yoh into the room. Usually they wouldn't be in such a haste, but with the condition of Yoh's body, they were anxious to get this job over with. So anxious, in fact, that they never noticed the other Asakura they had brought with them.

Hao stepped out of the van about five minutes after his brother's body was taken out. He stumbled though the parking lot, then entered quietly, trying not to draw attention.

A women sat holding her crying baby, and an old man in a wheelchair coughed heavily. Nurses ran back and forth between the ER and the Recovery room. Everyone was two busy in their own worlds to notice a silent boy walking toward the autopsy room.

He pushed the door open quietly, preying that no one unwanted was in the room. He was in luck. The closest thing to life in the room was the bare, scarlet-stained body of his brother that laid on the table. He stared at it quietly, then slowly began to approach it. He didn't understand. Why was he laying there; just staring at the ceiling? He placed a hand on Yoh's face, then shuddered when he felt how cold it had become; as cold as the very table he lay upon. Why had the men brought his brother to the place of death? Was Yoh dead? No, he couldn't be! Yoh couldn't die! He just couldn't! These were the thoughts that now flooded the shaman's mind as he found himself beginning to tremble. He needed comfort. He needed warmth. He needed his brother's warmth. He slowly nuzzled his face into his brother's chest, and this was when he heard it. The sound. The sound of a once soft heart beat now silenced. His flesh was cold; his eyes were empty. Hao was finally able to understand what had happened to his brother, and as he did he began to cry. Yoh had fallen asleep, and he was not going to wake up again.

"It's in here."

The shaman jumped hearing humans approaching, then quickly hid under the table.

Two men in long white jackets walked into the room, one, snapping a pair of gloves on while the other spat out a piece of gum.

The two coroners looked upon the body with disgust.

"Jesus! What a mess!" The gum chewer snorted, He was a rather chubby man, his chin dressed with stubble.

The other man was too tall for Hao to identify.

Mr. Gum snorted again. "Let's get this done quick. I want to get to lunch."

"Alright. Let's get him cleaned off first."

Hao listened and watched the feet of the men as they cleaned the crimson from Yoh's body, which took a total of ten minutes to fully finish.

When done the doctors stared in awe at the many dark bruises that had been hiding under the red.

"This kid looks like he was beaten to death!"

The mystery doctor nodded. "Aa. Let's . . . get this over with. I hate seeing children like this. Especially when their eyes are opened."

What were they doing? Hao had to find out. He looked around frantically, then was successful in his search when he found a large mirror on the wall that reflected the body and the doctors perfectly.

Mr. Gum was rubbing a cotton swab in the pale boy's mouth, probably trying to identify if there were any foreign substances in his mouth, then after a moment he sighed and went to the other end of the table.

"_What are they doing?" _Living his life as a pyromaniac, Hao had never really seen a body before, so this was entirely new to him. He became shocked when Mr. Gum suddenly spread Yoh's legs apart and began examining his lower half.

"Hmp! There's a lot of bruising down here too, Morisato-san."

This was unacceptable! Why were these humans, these vermin, violating his brother in such a way? He felt nausea washing over him as his brother's body was explored like a common object on the street.

Morisato was examining the bruises on the boy's neck. He was a relatively thin man. He had short brown hair, and deep grey eyes. They couldn't even be considered silver. They were just grey. So dull. So human. Once finished with the bruising, the man began fiddling through a variety of foreign tools on a small rack that sat next to the table, when he suddenly drew a small scalpel. "Poor boy was probably out for at least 6 hours before anyone found him."

Hao's eyes went wide. He found himself remembering one of Faust's lectures, and he knew what the sharp tool was for.

Mr. Gum stepped aside, then Morisato began to flick his wrist as he prepared for his least favorite part of the examination. "Let's get this over with quick." He began to make a small incision down Yoh's chest, when the other Asakura leapt from underneath the table, knocking the doctor down.

"Nani!"

Panicked, the boy quickly wrapped a sheet around his brother, then carried him out of the cold room, frightened that if he burned them, more humans would attack and take his brother away from him.

Morisato jumped to his feet and tried to grab the boy, but he had vanished as suddenly as he appeared. How would they ever explain this to Yoh's family?

* * *

"You lost him!" Faust was enraged with the two 'amateur' doctors, as Faust called them.

"Look! Someone had been hiding under the table. While we were examining your son's body, whoever it was jumped out and grabbed him."

Miki sighed. "It was Hao."

Mr. Gum, actually known as Tora-san, looked to Miki. "Who?"

"Trust me. Let me get him. It would probably be better, and safer for him and everyone else."

Dr. Tora frowned as Mikihisa walked from the waiting room down the hall of rooms. "Who does this Hao guy think he is? Probably just a whacko."

Keiko frowned. "He's the brother of that body you lost, and also my only son left. Don't you dare insult him!"

The two doctors became quiet, then watched as Mikihisa hunted down his son.

* * *

It wasn't very hard to find his son. He had run to the first empty room he had seen. Miki slowly opened the door, then sighed sadly.

Hao sat in the back corner of the room, quietly cradling his lifeless brother.

"Hao?"

"He's so cold, Daddy. Why's he so cold?"

Miki closed the door behind him, then sat down next to his son. "He's cold . . . because he's not there anymore, Hao."

"Are all bodies like this? Cold and silent?"

"Aa. They are."

"He was just laying there. On that cold table, and no robe, then those guys were looking at him, and touching him and . . ." The boy began to weep as he held Yoh closer. "I couldn't just leave him there, Daddy. I couldn't. It's bad enough that they're destroying everything else. They're not allowed to destroy my brother."

Miki embraced his son. "I'm sorry we didn't tell you what was going on, Hao. We should've known that you didn't understand this. I'm so sorry."

Hao sniffed, then laid his head on his father's chest. "Daddy, don't let the bad humans take him away. They'll look at him again, and cut him up."

"Nani?"

"I don't want the bad humans to cut him up. He's my brother, not a pound of meat."

"Cut him up? What are you talking about?"

* * *

"What are you talking about?"

Dr. Morisato sighed. "Asakura-san, we remove the organs when doing an autopsy."

"No one told me about that!"

Dr. Tora snorted. "Well, being a man of your age, we assumed you knew that."

Tamao sat in Ryu's arms, still shaken from the morning. "Mikihisa-san, they aren't really going to cut him up are they?"

The masked man looked down at his lifeless son, then shook his head. "No. They're not."

"Nani!" The two doctors became confused as Miki walked past them, Yoh in his arms, and Hao by his side.

Morisato began to have a spazz attack. "You can't just . . . I mean he's . . . this is . . ."

The father looked back as he was joined by Keiko. "This is our son, and we'll decide what's done with him," and with that Hao's wishes were granted, and they returned home with his brother.

* * *

It was three o'clock, when the shamans returned to their spots in the living room. Amidamaru was up stairs keeping an eye on the body, and the sky had grown cloudy outside. As much as the shamans wanted to be rid of this, Faust finally found himself asking the question everyone feared.

"So . . . do we bury him, or cremate him?"

Miki shook his head. "I'm . . . not sure. Uh, did anyone know how he wanted it?"

There was a moment of silence, then Manta sighed. "He . . . he should be cremated. Yoh-kun never liked how people were left in the ground to rot away. Cremation has a more honorable, and releasing feel to it."

The group nodded, then it was decided; Yoh would be cremated on Fumbari Hill that night.

"Damn it!" Lyserg rose to his feet. "I can't take this! I can't stand sitting here while my friend lays dead, awaiting his own cremation!" The emerald shaman took a deep breath. "I'm gonna find out who did this!"

Horo looked up. "Isn't that a job for the police?

"I like to think of it as . . . private justice."


	3. Private Justice

**Chuck:** I'm just gonna let you read, then I'll talk. Alright?

**Please R&R!**

* * *

**Chapter 03**

**Private Justice**

It was 11:00p.m, as the door slammed, then Mannoko sighed as her brother kicked his shoes off. "Daddy! Manta was out late again!"

Oyamada Mansumi entered the room, the aura of a rabid bull dog surrounding him. "Where were you, Manta?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

Mansumi snorted. "Hmph. It seems ever since you started hanging around that riffraff, you never want to talk about anything."

The small Oyamada sighed, then hung his jacket up.

Tamurazaki poked his head into the lobby. "Daijoubu, Manta-sama?"

"I'm just fine, alright!" Tears now escaping, the small boy shot by his father, and ran up the stairs to his room.

Several moments passed, then Mansumi opened Manta's door. "What's wrong with you this time, boy."

Manta hid his face in his pillow.

"Tears? Manta, you used to be above that." Closing the door behind him, Mansumi walked over to the bed. "You also used to be the star pupil of your class. Oh sure, you're only getting A-s' now, but that can quickly lead to Bs and Cs.

Manta was unresponsive.

"What happened to my son, who strived to be the best in everything that he did? You were so much better before you met that Asakura filth and the rest of his friend's."

"He died!"

Mansumi was stunned by his son's response.

"Yoh-kun's dead. He died. Someone came into the hotel and killed him. Are you happy now?" The small boy, began to weep once again as he hid his face back in his pillow. "I just watched my best friend's cremation, and I don't even understand why he died."

A strange sensation filled the older Oyamada as his son sobbed. "Manta . . ." He sat on the end of the bed, then drew his son into his arms. "Gomen . . . I . . . had no idea . . ."

"Nani?" Manta looked up, confused by his father's actions.

"I never wished death on your friends. I only wished you wouldn't hang around them so much. Manta . . . gomen."

As he was held in his father's arms, Manta felt something he had never felt from the man before: warmth. And so, Manta allowed is father to hold him. Even if it was only temporary, his father's love was a blessing that helped to ease his pain.

-

"Good morning school. It is with deep dismay and sincere regret that I inform you that Asakura Yoh, a well known student at Shinra Private Junior High, was found dead in his home yesterday morning. Our guidance counselor will be available for those of you who need him. My thoughts are with you."

The classes grew quiet with the principle's words. Teacher's stopped teaching and students stopped chatting.

Fujiyama's chalk broke as it scraped against the blackboard. He was quiet for a moment, the principle's words slowly registering. He had sensed that something was wrong with Yoh's friends, especially since Manta wasn't in class, but he hadn't felt it was his business to ask. Now he knew. He slowly lifted his books off the desk and simply walked out of the class.

Student's began to chat amongst themselves. The rumors were already burning in their minds. Was it suicide, or was it murder? Was he hung, or was he stabbed. Hao could hear their thoughts, and it sickened him. He sighed, then looked over to Lyserg, who sat scribbling words in a small notebook. "What are you doing?"

"I'm writing down a list of suspects."

"Suspects?"

The shaman's looked to Takeshi, who now stood smiling at them. "So it was murder then."

The group was one short today. Yoko was probably skipping again.

"Yeah . . . it was." Lyserg studied the bully, then looked to the other two, who still sat in their desks. Goro was reading, while Junen was doodling. There was a large black and blue blemish on the red-head's cheek. "What happened to him?"

Takeshi looked over, then sighed. "We got in a spar with some guys at the movies last night. One of them knocked him pretty good." He looked to Hao then sneered. "So what was it? A hanging? Stabbing? Poison? Come on! Out with it!"

The Asakura looked up darkly. "Back off, Takeshi."

Ren walked over, and stood in front of Hao. "Who do you think you are, asking him stuff like that?"

"I'm just wondering." Takeshi shrugged, then walked back over to his two friends.

Horo joined Ren, then looked down at Lyserg's list. "Nani?" He took the notebook, then stared at the name's. "Crazy shaman dude? Movie theater guy? Who's 'movie theater guy'?"

"Remember Saturday night? Mikihisa-san said that the ticket booth guy said that he was going to make Keiko-san his one way or another."

Ren tilted his head. "So . . . he takes out one of her kids? I don't think that matches up right, Lyserg."

"The guy might think that if he gets rid of Keiko-san's family, she'll be left alone to him."

Horo cocked an eyebrow. "And that works . . . how?"

"He's a psycho! It doesn't have to work out!" The emerald shaman was quiet, then he looked over to Hao. "Anyway, if he is the guy, it might mean that you and your dad are target's as well."

Hao sighed sadly, then rested his head on his desk. "I just wanna wake up and find out that this is all a bad dream."

Horo sighed, then walked to the front of the class, and grabbed the newspaper. "I don't think Fujiyama-san will be coming back for awhile; might as well make the best of it." He read through a few articles, then looked to the others. "Hey guys! Look at this!" He ran to his friend's, then showed them an article at the bottom of the front page. It read, "Paramedics, Yimou Ling, and Matsuda Edko found dead in their homes. Police are baffled."

Ren snapped the paper out of Horo's hands, and read over the article. "It looks like Yimou was found on the floor by his bed, wrapped extremely tight in his sheets, while Matsuda was found drowned in his sink."

Hao looked up a little. "Weren't those the two guys that took Yoh's body yesterday?"

"Aa." Ren examined the pictures they had of the bodies. "This is sick."

Hao looked at the images, then sighed. "Humans are so terrible."

-

"Nani?" Omoi Yuri, or 'movie theater guy' was sitting in his booth, when the shamans approached him. "Sorry, kids. The movie doesn't start again until seven tonight."

"Are you Omoi Yuri?"

The man look to Lyserg, then nodded. "Aa. That's me."

"I'd like to ask you a few questions regarding a women you we're talking to on Saturday, if you don't mind."

"Why should I answer anything you want to know. You're not the police."

Anna smiled. "Yes, but if you're not responsible for anything bad, you have nothing to worry about, do you?"

He was quiet for a moment, then Yuri smiled. "Alright! Alright! I'll humor ya. What do ya want to know?"

Lyserg pulled out a photo of Keiko.

As he showed it to Yuri, Hao stood away from the group. They had been afraid that he might kill the man whether or not he was the murderer or not. He sighed, then began to walk away. There was a TV store next to the theater and as his reflection touched the first two sets, the t.v's in the windows began going static. He looked, then became confused when he saw his reflection in the t.v screens we're not of him, but someone else's. They were to distorted to identify, and they began to walk closer to him through the screens. It took him a few moments to realize that it was coming towards him, and when the televisions went black, Hao jumped back. He leaned toward them, still stunned, when a pair of eyes suddenly opened. They we're dark and empty, yet full of rage. "Nani?" A hand was placed on his shoulder. "Nani!"

Horo jumped back. "Whoa! It's just me, Hao! What are you looking at?"

"The TVs! Didn't you see them!"

"Uh . . ." Horo eyed them for a moment, then became horrified. "Oh god!" He suddenly grabbed Hao's hand and dragged him to the others. "Guys! Hao was almost corrupted by that scarey dubbed children's show! You know, the one with the purple dinosaur!"

The group shuddered, then Lyserg sighed. "Well, we're done here." He looked to Yuri. "I'll be calling you if I hear anything else, and also be calling your mom to back your alibi up."

"Alright. My god, that poor boy."

And so the group left Omoi Yuri. As they walked, Hao looked to Lyserg. "So where was he Saturday night?"

"His mom's house. He says they had dinner at 7:00p.m, watched home videos until 11:00p.m, then he went to bed, while she stayed up. If his alibi is real, his mom should be able to verify that, and also agree that she stayed up later then he did. If even that last part isn't real, it could mean that he told her to say that for him."

Ren sighed. "I don't think it was him. He's too small."

Tamao looked to him. "What do you mean?"

"The bruises, they were a lot bigger then his hands. I really don't think he has the physical, nor the mental capacity to beat a person to death, especially Yoh. Hurt leg or not, Yoh could've over powered him easily, which means it was someone bigger, and a hell of a lot stronger."

Anna frowned. "Like a shaman."

-

"N . . . Nani! How did you ever find me!"

It was about 7:00p.m now as the group visited the unfriendly shaman.

Horo smiled. "Dude, you're camped out in a tree. It's not really hard to miss."

"Curses!" The shaman jumped down from the tree and looked at them. "Well, what do you want with me?"

Lyserg pulled out his notebook. "First of all, what's your name?"

"Why should I tell?" Hao stepped out of the shadows, then the man became scared. "Alright! Alright! I'll tell! It's Aki Taka!"

Lyserg jotted this down. "So Taka, do you usually carry out your threats?"

"Nani? What do you mean?"

"You said that our friend Yoh would pay for bringing Hao back, and now . . . he's dead."

The man stared quietly, then looked down. "He probably got what was coming to him."

"Kisama!" Hao shot at the man, but it was Anna who beat him to the man.

She hit the man with the 'dream like left hand', then stood over him as he trembled. "Listen, my fiancé was hanging out of a closet yesterday morning, murdered. I want to hear everything you know about it!"

"I . . . I . . . I don't know anything! I swear!"

"Then what were you doing Saturday night after you ran into us?"

He looked to Lyserg. "I, I was here. In the tree."

Horo cocked an eyebrow. "Is there anyone who can back that up?"

"Well, uh, no. Not exactly. I live here alone."

Tamao looked to Lyserg. "You think he's telling the truth?"

"I don't know, and without any witnesses, his story is hollow at best." Lyserg put his notebook away, then helped Taka to his feet. "We're through here for today, but don't leave town."

Hao's eyes darkened. "Or else I'll hunt you down and use your head for pin cushion."

"Okay! Okay! I'll stay! I promise!"

Hao sneered. "See that you do." And with that he turned from the group and began walking home. Amidamaru appeared, then looked to Anna. "With Yoh-dono dead, Hao-dono's been kinda weird, huh?"

She nodded. "Aa. We'll have to keep an eye on him. If he becomes unstable, we may have more then one murder to worry about."

-

Several hours passed after the group returned home. The emerald shaman now sat quietly, busying himself on his laptop.

Ryu walked into the living room, then smiled softly. He was happy that the 'lovely' factor of the RLT was working so hard in order to give their departed friend justice. "How goes Private Justice?"

"Busy. The movie theater guy's alibi checked out, but the shaman who attacked us Saturday night doesn't have anything to defend himself . . . yet I feel that he was being honest when he said he didn't do it." .

"What are you doing now?"

"Well, I took a picture when Yoh was hanging from the closet, and . . ."

"Lyserg . . ."

"It's not like I enjoyed it, and anyway I realized something. Look, Yoh's eyes are opened."

The tanned shaman couldn't bear to see the image. "I see that, Anata." Ryu shook his head sadly, as he began to leave the room.

"No! Ryu, don't you get it? His eyes were opened. It's said if you someone dies with their eyes opened, the images of what they last saw can still be seen in their eyes."

Ryu stopped, then walked back over to his other lover. "So then . . ."

"We may be able to see who killed him. Whoever it was, they obviously have a history with Mikhisa-san or Keiko-san."

"Nani? What makes you say that?"

"Come on! Isn't it obvious? The killer not only killed Yoh in their room, but stuffed him up in their ceiling. I'm guessing they wanted either Mikihisa-san or Keiko-san to find him. Whoever it was, they must have had something personal against one of them, or maybe even both to do something like this."

Ryu looked to his lover, then grinned. "Quite the little Sherlock, aren't you."

"I try."

Ryu kissed Lyserg's cheek, then looked to the screen as Lyserg increased the magnification on Yoh's eyes. After closely examining it, they sighed. Black. There was nothing. No figures, or outlines. Just black.

Ryu sighed, then hugged Lyserg. "You tried, Lyserg-chan. We'll just have to find something else."

"I guess . . ." Lyserg sighed, then turned his laptop off. "I gotta get some sleep."

-

The man slipped though the window. Foolish people. They had left the door unlocked. The man wore a black outfit, along with a black mask. He had been doing this for awhile. The time was 12:45 as the burglar slowly closed the door. He tip toed through the lobby, unaware that he was being watched. "These guys are probably loaded." He slipped into the living room and began searching for anything expensive, when he suddenly heard a strange sound. He whipped around to see a figure sitting behind one of the couches, crying in an odd sort of way. "Hm?" He crept over then stared seeing the figure was much smaller than him. Probably a kid, though he couldn't be sure, because he didn't bring a flashlight. "Hey there. Are you all alone?"

The figure sat holding it's legs and trembling.

"Hmph! You are just a kid. Well, if you don't tell anyone about me, I won't have to come back and hurt you. Okay? This will be our little secret." The man smiled, then walked to the other side of the room, and began putting the possessions of the shamans' into a small sack. He didn't even here it suddenly stand up. He had just filled the sack, when he saw the figure now walking toward him."Nani? What are you doing, Kid? Hm? What's wrong with you! Hey! Get away from me! Get away! AHHH!"

_Lost in pain, birthed of dark;_

_A violent death, has left it's mark_

_In the terrain, no mercy is found_

_for anyone who enters it's ground_

_A web is formed, that cannot break,_

_a curse on those whose lives it'll take._

_It hunts the ones that were there_

_at the time and after, it's pain shall share. _

_Repeating the fury, it's end never met,_

_It doesn't forgive, it doesn't forget. _

* * *

**Chuck:** Hmm. I hope I'm actually typing this okay. This is my first kinda scarey-like fic, so I want it to be good. I also want to be something that sends chills down people's backs, without giving away future stuff. The poem was something that I just felt I should type. It explains what's going to be going on. Plus I was listening to some creepy music and the words just kinda popped up in my head. Well, I guess that's it! Please R&R! 

sorry my update's are slow. I'm also working on Flash's and A.M.V's.


	4. Paper Cut

**Chuck:** Yo! As usual my updating's a little off. Sorry bout that. Anyway, here's the next chappy! -

**Please R&R!

* * *

**

**Chapter 4**

**Paper Cut**

The next morning was quiet, the incident of the night before unknown. The shamans were relatively early to their home-form class. Fujiyama wasn't even present yet, though it was unknown to them whether he would even bother to show up at all. The same seemed to be with Manta. He hadn't come to class, or even phoned the shamans, and they were beginning to worry. As they dropped their items on the desks, Horo Horo grabbed the newspaper from Fujiyama's desk. He read it for a moment, then with a look of distress he dropped the paper on Hao's desk. "The shit has hit the fan!"

Hao cringed. "Someone blabbed! But who!"

Lyserg sighed. "I bet it was that Yuri guy."

Hao stared at the bold letters that gradually formed words.

It read, "**Asakura out of the Closet. What is the family hiding?**" Under it was a long article, describing what had happened and how the shamans hadn't told the police.

"Kisama." Hao then glanced down and became horrified when he saw the image of his brother hanging from the closet, immortalized in a photograph that now covered the front page. "Nani!" Shredding the paper, the Asakura became enraged. "The only ones there that day were us!" He rose to his feet, then scowled at them. "So who did it! Who took this picture!"

The group was quiet as Hao's fury began to increase.

"It . . . was evidence."

"Nani!" Hao looked to the emerald shaman as he hung his head.

"I don't know how he got it. I had a theory about how we could find the killer . . . I just . . ."

Seething, Hao slowly began to approach Lyserg. "My brother was hanging from that horrible closet, murdered, and you took a picture of it!"

"I'm sorry, Hao! I was just . . ." His words were suddenly cut off, when Lyserg suddenly found himself thrown against the wall as Hao began strangling him.

"Kisama! You're lower than a human! How dare you take a photograph of him in that state! How dare you!"

"Hao stop it!" Ren and the others began to pull the enraged shaman off, but he simply threw them away like insects. Even the spirits were cast aside.

"I swear, you're going to regret ever buying that camera!"

"It's not like I killed him, Hao! I'm just trying to find out who did! The same as you!"

"I don't know, I could come up with some pretty good motives!"

"Motives! What are you talking about! Do you think I . . ."

"It's a possibility! Still a little sore about the shaman fight, are we; or maybe you just wanted to get back at me for killing your parents!"

"How dare you!" Lyserg cringed, then suddenly kicked Hao in the stomach, the shot of pain knocking the enraged shaman to the floor.

Hao looked up at him, slightly dumbstruck from the attack. "Nani?"

Lyserg straightened his collar, then looked down, trying to control his own anger. "How dare you call me a murderer? How dare you accuse me of killing Yoh-kun? And especially when I was with you guys that night! If anyone here is to be questioned, it should start with you!"

Hao cringed. "What does that mean?"

"You have no idea . . ." Tears began to weld in the emerald shaman's eyes. "You have no idea what it's like . . . to live with the murderer of your own family! You call me low! My parents were good people, Hao! Good people! They were loving, and trusting . . . " Wiping his eyes, Lyserg could feel his throat going dry. "They loved me, and you took them away! And why? Because they were good people! They didn't want to join you and your psychotic quest for power!"

Hao rose to his feet, his temporary insanity now fading into regret. "Lyserg . . . I'm sorry."

"No you're not! You meant every word of it! You're completely unstable, but you know what? You're right! If taking a picture of my dead friend so I can help bring him a little justice is wrong; if that's how you define low, then yes Hao, I am low!" Lyserg pushed through Hao, then lifted his books of his desk. "But I'm no murderer. I'll leave the killing to you." And with that the emerald shaman pushed through the group of students that now began to fill the room.

Hao stared at the door quietly, then sat in his seat. "I'm really sorry, Lyserg."

"Lyserg-chan . . ." Tamao sighed, then as the students sat down, Takeshi walked over to Hao's desk where the shamans all stood. "Is this like some kind of meeting place for freaks?"

Hao looked up, the anger now returning.

"Aw did one of your little lover boys break up with you?"

Ren frowned. "We're not in the mood, Takeshi!"

"Well, I guess I can't blame you guys, what with this shoved in everybody's face." Takeshi dropped another newspaper on Hao's desk, then pointed to the large image. "Not very attractive, is it?"

"Kisama!" Hao leapt to his feet, but then he remembered the words his brother had said._ "You promised me Hao! You promised!"_ The words plagued his mind. Yoh would understand; wouldn't he? No. Yoh would never allow him to do this, even if Takeshi did deserve it.

Anna looked and saw Takeshi was alone today. "Where's your band of merry men?"

The bully shrugged. " I don't know. I'm not their mom."

"You don't even care about them?"

Takeshi looked to Tamao. "Of coarse I care; but it's not like I'm super obsessive like you guys. They're big boys. They can look after themselves."

"Students, to your seats!"

The class was fully seated after Fujiyama entered the room, and as Hao looked down he spotted a familiar name mentioned in the article. "Omoi Yuri."

* * *

The halls seemed to empty quickly as Lyserg walked. He sighed, while rubbing his throat, the feeling of dryness still present. "I should probably check this." He walked into the boy's washroom, relieved when he discovered it was empty. He walked to the mirror, then began examining the ring of black and blue that now acted as some sort of horrific, necklace. Wait. He knew this ring. But from where? He studied it for a moment longer, then with a sigh, walked to the door. Locked. "Nani?" He lifted the latch, then pulled the handle again. It began to open, then slammed shut. "Hey! Who's out there!" Not receiving a response, he looked to Morphine, who now hovered close to him. "Morphine, check it out."

With a nod, the small pink fairy passed through the door.

"Morphine?" No response. "What the heck is gong on here?" Just then, a sharp, high pitch, almost static sound shot through the shaman's head. "Ow!" As he feel to his knees, the lights suddenly went out. "Nani!" There was a moment of darkness, then a soft glow filled the room. The emergency lights. There was a moment of relief, until Lyserg suddenly heard a strange rattling sound. He looked around, then jumped when he saw a twisted figure smash one of the lights. "AH!" It shot around the room, smashing them. Soon only outlines could be seen. Now trembling, Lyserg backed into a wall, not even noticing the door opening. There was a loud slam, then the shaman found himself in almost complete darkness, as a familiar sound came into hearing. Footsteps. Were they outside? No; they were inside the room. "H . . . hello?" The light seemed to be flickering away as the shaman stood confused. He felt tears building. What was going on? Where had Morphine gone? Wait? What was this? Lyserg suddenly felt hands massaging his shoulders. It was odd, yet comforting. He began to enjoy the treatment, when he was suddenly struck by a thought. How could there be hands when he was backed up against a wall? He tried to yell, but all that escaped was a soft rattle as he felt his throat suddenly being crushed in the once comforting hands. He was thrown to the floor, then became confused when he saw the attacker was gone. There was only a soft outline of a person, standing before him.

The figure opened his mouth, only breathing a strange rattle that the shaman had made earlier.

Frightened, Lyserg began to struggle away, but the figure merely walked towards him, then slowly placed a damp hand on his face. The hand was gentle at first, stroking the shaman's face as if it were a beloved possession, but the softness quickly vanished when Lyserg felt the hand slowly push him onto his back, as it covered his nose and mouth. He kicked and struggled, but the hand wouldn't budge. He tried to call for help, but all that escaped was the muffled rattling. It was then that a horrible realization struck him. He was going to die. As he began feeling dizzy he looked into the dark eyes that stared into his. They were dark, empty; unworldly.

"Lyserg!"

The shaman woke up hearing Hao's voice. "Nani?"

Hao stood at his side, while the class peeked into the boys' washroom. "Daijoubu! You're bleeding! What happened! Morphine told me you were locked in here, and she couldn't get back in; then she heard a bunch of crashing and . . .Daijoubu!

Lyserg sat up, then placed a hand on his face. When he lifted it he saw it was stained with scarlet. "I . . . don't know . . ."

Fujiama pushed his way through his class then crouched down to the boy's side. "Diethel . . . did someone . . . try to rape you?"

"Eh! No, Fujiyama-san . . . I . . ."

"You what?"

Lyserg was silent.

The teacher stared at him for a moment, then with a sigh, rose to his feet. "Would you like to be excused for the day?"

"Uh . . . Actually, I'd rather not, if it's alright with you."

"A student wanting to stay in class? Makes no sense to me, but do as you wish." And with that the teacher signaled for his class to return to their home forum. As they did, then shamans joined their emerald friend.

Tamao hugged him. "Lyserg-chan, daijoubu?"

"Uh . . . yeah, I guess."

Horo frowned as the shaman started washing his face. "What happened in here?"

"Something . . . tried to kill me."

"Nani!" The group became alarmed.

"It was in the dark, and something started trying to suffocate me."

"Like what?"

Lyserg finished cleaning the scarlet off his face, then looked to Horo. "I'm not sure. It looked like a person but . . ."

They began to walk back to class, then Anna looked to the Lyserg. "Well, Hao found out who talked to the press, so we should go pay him a visit after school."

"Really? Who?"

* * *

"How could you do this?"

Omoi Yuri looked to the emerald shaman, then smiled. "You had dropped one of your photo's, and I knew enough of your story, so . . . yeah." Receiving dirty looks, he smiled. "Oh, come on! Do you have any idea how much they paid me for that story? I can almost quit this crummy job."

"You told . . . for pieces of paper?"

Yuri looked to Hao then nodded. "Duh! Where have you been living; a box? Of coarse I did it for the cash!"

The glass of the booth was suddenly shattered as Hao's hand shot through and grabbed the pitiful human. "Kisama!" As he was about to release a fiery attack, he suddenly felt a surge of pain through his head. The pain was followed by an image. He stumbled backward, then dropped to his rear.

"Hao?" Ren was the first by his side. "Daijoubu? What is it?"

"I . . . don't know. My head just got a really bad pain, then I thought I saw something."

"What are you! Some kind of freak!"

The group looked back to Yuri, who stood trembling in the booth.

"Who's gonna pay for this!"

As they helped Hao to his feet, Horo looked back to the man. "Why not just use some of that money that you got?" and with that they left the man.

Tamao brought up the rear. "What did you see, Hao-sama?"

"I . . . don't know. I think it was . . . ." He paused for a moment, then the shaman lowered his head. "I think it was the murderer?"

"Nani!"The group froze hearing this.

"It was like I was looking through someone else's eyes. I could see Yoh standing at the stove making noddles, then I suddenly ran over, and . . . hit him over the head"

Ren frowned. "Maybe we should tell your parents."

* * *

"It's probably your empathy."

Hao sat in the couch quietly while his father explained his circumstance.

"You and Yoh were close. You're probably so desperate to find out what happened, that your empathy is channeling the emotions that were here that night, and that's producing images. It's not necessarily a bad thing. Only if you lose control of it."

Hao nodded then looked down. "Uh, Dad? You didn't see the paper today, did you?"

Miki was quiet, then he sighed. "Yes. Unfortunately I did . . . and so did your mother."

"Is she okay?"

"I think so. She had a little cry, then went up to take a nap."The group was quiet, then Mikihisa examined them. "Where's Manta?"

"Oh!" Lyserg looked up. "He wasn't at school today. You think he's okay?"

Miki shook his head. "Yoh and him were also close. They weren't brothers, but they were close. Has any of you tried to talk to him?"

Ren shook his head. "I tried to phone him, but no one picked up."

"Hm?" Miki fixed his mask a little, then sighed. "We should all go over to his place tonight. It would probably help him."

"How do you figure?"

Ren kicked Horo in the shin. "Aa, Mikihisa-san. He probably thinks that without Yoh here, he has no place with us." So the plan was made; they would see Manta that night, and take him to the Amusement park.

"Nani?" Manta stood at the door quietly, as his friends cluttered the door; even Keiko was present. "What . . . do you guys want?"

Hao pushed through the shamans, then lifted the small boy up. "We've come to kidnap you, and stuff you full of candy and chocolate, while you try not to lose your cookies!"

"Uh . . ." The small boy sighed. "I can't."

"Huh?" The group was shocked. What could Manta possibly be doing that would keep him from them.

"My dad and I are gonna go see a movie. It's . . . special."

Oyamada Mansumi's voice rang into the room. "Do you have your shoes on, Manta?"

"Hai!"

Lyserg was shocked. "You're giving up time with us . . . to hang with your dad?"

The small Oyamada slipped his coat on. "My dad's never really done anything like this. It's . . . kinda nice . . ."

Mansumi looked to Mikihisa, then bowed slightly. "I'm sorry about your son. It must have been devastating."

The masked man looked down, then nodded. He then turned from the group and began to walk away. "Let's go home. We shouldn't keep Manta from his plans."

"Mikhisa-san!" The group chased after the grieving father, leaving the Oyamadas as the door. They were unaware of what was happening at the hotel.

* * *

Omoi Yuri wanted more money. The people at the paper told him that if he got some more pictures from the inside of the hotel, he could earn a great amount of payment, so like any human, the man took the offer. Yuri explored the house throughly, using up a whole role of film, unaware of the sets of eyes that were watching his every move. He soon climbed into his car, then quickly drove down the road from the hotel. 15 minutes later, he drew the photo's from his pocket, a toothy grin spread across his face. "These are great." As he flipped through the images, he noticed an area of distortion on the one that was taken of Keiko and Mikihisa's closet. "Nani?" He examined it closely. "You weren't there before." He flipped to the next one, and saw another area of distortion on the one of the hallway. "What is this?" He flipped once again, then cried out in surprise. His final photo that had been taken inside the attic was consumed by dark eyes that seemed to be staring into his. "What the hell's going on!" The locks in the car suddenly flipped on, and the windows rolled up. "Nani!" Struggling with the handle, he began to hear a strange rattling noise. He looked around, then slowly looked down at the photo in his hand, he discovered the source of the sound. The photo's shot from there resting pace, and onto his face, covering his nose and eyes. As he struggled to pull them off, they seemed to be held on by an invisible force. The last photo in his hand was still for a moment longer, then as the others had, it leapt up and covered his mouth. No could hear his muffled screams; no one could hear the honk of the horn. He had driven too far away from any living people, and the only witness was the dark, distorted figure that sat in the back seat, watching his demise from the rear view mirror with dark empty eyes. It wouldn't even be until morning and by then it would be far to late. All that would remain would be an empty envelop of flesh.

* * *

**Chuck:** Well, that's it for this chappy. Hope all who reads this is enjoying it. - **Please R&R!**


	5. Human Again

**Chuck:** Yo! As usual my updating's a little off. Sorry bout that. Anyway, here's the next chappy! It's a quieter one, but I think it's still good!-

Gomen for spelling errors, grammer, etc . . . . My usual Proof reader is unavailable at the moment -

**Please R&R!**

* * *

**Chapter 5**

**Human Again**

Wednesday. Cody Fieldmen and Rebecca Spencer were a Canadian couple who loved adventure. They had already traveled to Egypt, Mexico and Germany, so a trip to Japan seemed like a great idea. They had spent a week in a grand Tokyo hotel and they were tired from the noise of the city. They decided they would camp out in the Funbari area. A breakfast of eggs and toast in their stomach's, they had been traveling along a long empty road when they found the car. They never came to Japan again.

"Mmm . . . mm . . .Yoh-kun . . . no . . . mh . . . Yoh-kun!" Manta sat up in his large bed, the sheets damp from perspiration. He looked down sadly, the gruesome image of his friend still haunting the back of his mind. Perhaps the nightmare was punishment. He hated to admit it, but the night spent with his estranged father had truly been bliss, and had even helped to ease the loss of his friend. Why had he turned down the shamans' offer? Was he reverting back to his human side, now that Yoh was gone? Perhaps that was it, and the horrific dream was a way to make him remember where his loyalties lied. But what if he didn't want to remember? Without Yoh he was nothing more than a mere annoyance to the group. Maybe it was time to stop pretending to be a shaman, and start acting like a human being. He thought of how he had felt with his father the night before, then slowly lowered himself from the soft mattress, and walked into his bathroom. After his 'early morning ritual', he brushed his teeth and combed his hair, then went back into his room. His alarm clock read 6:17a.m. A little early for school, but after the nightmare he felt as if he could never sleep again, so he quickly dressed himself, then left the large mansion. Perhaps he would stumble around a bit, after all, it wasn't like anyone was looking for him.

-

"I can't believe it!" Lyserg threw the paper down on his desk, then pulled out a notebook, and scratched Yuri's name off. "We're running out of suspects!"

Ren nodded. "All we got now is that Aki Taka guy."

"We'll have to see him after school," Anna sighed.

"What if . . . we can't find them."

"Hm?" The group looked to Hao.

Since Monday morning, he hadn't been looking well. His eyes were developing dark bags similar to Faust's. When questioned about it, he said he hadn't been getting any sleep. He now sat in his desk quietly, staring into space. "I mean, what if the murderer got away, and we can never find him . . . what do we do then?"

Horo hated to be the one to say, but he knew that no one else would say it. "Then . . . we move on, Hao."

"Nani!" Hao jumped to his feet. "Move on! I wanna find the bastard!"

Lyserg sighed. "Well . . . Yuri could've been the . . ."

"It wasn't him!"

The group jumped at Hao's sudden out burst.

Ren tilted his head. "How do you know that?"

"I just know, alright! That bastard didn't have the strength, nor the guts to kill Yoh."

Horo sighed then looked to Lyserg. "It's kind of weird how Yuri just died so suddenly. The paper says he was mysteriously suffocated not too far away from the hotel. Their actually trying to pin it on us, because he was found with his face covered in a bunch of pictures taken from inside the hotel."

Anna sighed. "So we're not only looking for Yoh's murderer anymore, but the one who's been killing these other people."

"Who cares about them!" Hao had once again stunned the group. "All that matters is we find who killed Yoh! I don't give a shit about those other guys! Screw them!"

The group was dumbstruck. How could the Asakura be so cold. Sure, Yoh's death was tragic, but that was the past now, and something weird was going on now. They needed his support.

"Students! Take your seats!" Fujiyama was setting his books down on his desk, when he suddenly saw the door open.

Manta slowly walked in, a little messed up, but still living.

"Oyamada? Daijoubu?"

"Aa, Fujiyama-san. I'm fine."

The teacher was silent for a moment, then he sighed. "Alright, Manta. Please join the rest of the class."

"Manta-dono!" Amidamaru floated over to Manta as the boy took his seat. "Manta-dono! It's good to see you! How are you?"

Manta was silent.

"Manta-dono?" He waved his hand in front of his face, but the boy looked through him. "Why wont you answer me?" Still nothing.

The shamans began to notice Manta's behaviour as the day progressed. It wasn't until lunch, when he was finally confronted.

-

Ren sat next to him. "What's up, Manta?"

Manta took a bite of his sandwich. "Nothing."

"Uh huh . . ." The Tao studied him for a moment. "You look like a wreck. What happened?"

"I was walking this morning, and I tripped and fell into a bush. That's what I do . . . I trip . . ." Manta looked up a little. "Humans don't have imaginary people to catch them when they trip. They just . . . trip."

The group became worried. Manta's eyes now held a dull look of depression.

"Manta?" Anna sat on his other side. "Are you still dealing with Yoh's . . . passing? It's okay if you are. He was . . your friend."

Manta frowned. "He was more than my friend, Anna! He was my lover!"

The group grew silent with this. Anna's eyes were wide.

"That's right; lovers! I loved him, and he loved me! He didn't want you! How could he! You were a frightening demon leashed him like a dog. People say you two could've worked out, that you balanced each other out, but I think that's crap!" Manta looked down as Anna stared in shock. "It was beautiful. Yoh-kun wasn't like the others. He wasn't all 'lets go out and party together!'; he had a certain way about him. The best moments of my life were when we would sit on Funbari hill together, and he would take me into his arms, and stroke my head. He would always start humming a soft tune, sometimes a regular song, other times a tune he as just making up. It was those moments when I truly felt more than a human." His eyes became misty. "But now, Yoh-kun's dead, and I'll never get to feel like that again; never be loved like that again." The small boy finished his sandwich, then rose to his feet. "He's gone and he's never coming back. All I want to do is forget."

"Oh no . . ." Hao lifted Manta up. "Don't do this, Manta. You can't start acting like this."

"Why not? I'm not a shaman like you. I'm not special. Not to you; not to the others. Yoh-kun was what made me special, and now . . . I'm just . . . human again."

"If you're just a human, how can you see spirits?"

Manta stared at Hao for a moment, then sighed. "Spirits aren't real. Everyone knows that."

"Nani! Why you . . .?" Regaining control of his temper, Hao slowly placed Manta down. "That's why you wouldn't answer Amidamaru, isn't it? Since Yoh's gone, you feel like nothing. Well you're not the only one, Manta! He was my brother, and the only one who really accepted me after all that I did."

Manta pushed past Hao, then froze when he saw Anna looking down at him with dark eyes.

"I knew Manta."

"Nani?"

"That's right; I knew. Do you think I'm stupid? I've known Yoh since he was little, and I could always tell those things about him. He started becoming floaty when you and him were together, he stopped complaining about his training. You could see it in his eyes; hear it in his voice. I knew before he even told me."

Manta winced. "He . . . told you?"

"Aa."

"But then . . . why didn't you . . ."

"Punish him? Manta, I admit my training schedules are strict, but I'm not heartless. I can't punish someone because of what their heart wants." The blonde itako released a sigh, then smiled slightly. "We had a long talk afterward. He told me how he felt about you, and I knew that he wanted to break the engagement. It's wasn't official without Kino-san, but it was broken."

Manta tilted his head. "You . . . didn't even fight for him? You just let him go?"

"Aa."

"But why?"

Anna looked down with a mixture of loss and acceptance. "Because I love him, Manta. I had lost him before he even knew he loved you, so I did what I thought would make him happiest."

This was a strange side of the girl. The shamans stood quietly as Manta registered what he had just been told.

Anna knelt down to the small boy. "Yoh wouldn't want you to act like this. He would want you to cherish your gifts, along with your memories. Do you really want to forget everything?"

Manta stared at her long, and hard. He considered what he'd been told, and what he already knew. "Yes. I do." And with that the small boy pushed past Anna, and left the cafeteria.

"Oh Manta . . ." Anna rose to her feet, then frowned when she heard the familiar voice.

"Quite a pimp, wasn't he?"

The group looked to Takeshi who had joined them not too long ago. "All this emotion over one guy. Why can't you just accept that he's dead and move on?"

Ren sighed in annoyance. "Because, unlike you, we actually care about our friends."

Takeshi rolled his eyes. "I called my buds last night. Goro's just got the flue, and Junen went on a trip with his mom."

"What about Yoko?"

The silver haired boy looked to Lyserg. "You know how he is. He pulled this disappearing act last winter. He's got issues at home; can't blame the guy for wanting a little break from the world."

Hao sighed, then looked to where Manta had exited. "Manta . . . ."

-

Several hours passed after the small Oyamada had left the school. He now sat at across from his father at the dinner table, while Mannoko sat to his left. He observed them, the memories of quiet dinners foreign to him. Had they ever all sat like this?

Mannoko chewed quietly while she fidgeted with one of her bows. It seemed she couldn't quite get the scarlet ribbon to fit to her liking. A soft grunt could be heard every once in a while.

His father was deep in thought as he read over the paper. He was most likely observing the stock markets, and other adult things that the eldest son, though smart, still didn't understand yet.

This was so strange. The boy had become accustomed to the yelling and laughter of the shamans he was now neglecting as they dined on the culinary masterpiece that Ryu had prepared. This was the exact opposite. There was hardly any sounds other than the chewing of food, the occasional turning of a page, and the younger girl's unnecessary efforts to perfect herself. She was actually quite pretty. Manta had never really stopped and looked at his sister before. Sure, she always seemed kind of cute. As her brother, she was supposed to appear like that to him, but now he was looking at her as an honest observer, rather then her older brother. Her eyes were not blue like his, but a deeper aqua colour instead. Her hair held the same style, though a little longer, and her lips were slightly pinker. The one aspect that truly made him notice this new beauty was the fact she was not dressed up as usual; instead of her usual pink dress, she wore a yellow sleeveless top, and a soft blue skirt that came just above her knees. She look like a small flower.

Mansumi looked up from his paper, finally gaining the courage to talk to his son. "So . . . Manta . . ."

Manta looked up, almost knocking his glass over.

"How are you? You're looking a little flushed today."

"Uh, I'm okay. I just feel a little icky. That's all."

The awkward silence returned.

"So, how's Mommy?"

Mansumi looked to Mannoko then smiled. "She's fine. She'll be coming here next week."

"Daddy, are we gonna live here in Japan now?"

Though it was Mannoko who asked, the firm man looked to Manta, as if he was talking to him. "Yes. We shall be staying here with Manta for now on."

"How come?"

The father looked to his daughter. "Because now that the problems with the business have been taken care of here in Japan, we no longer need to be in America. I also have more time to spend with you and your brother."

"And Mommy too!"

Mansumi chuckled. "Yes, Mannoko. Mommy too."

Manta watched his father quietly, a look of astonishment on his face. Death has a way of effecting everyone around it. Mansumi's transformation was almost like a fairy tale. Though he had never even known the shaman that well, Yoh's death had brought out the lighter side of his father. Perhaps, seeing how Keiko and Mikihisa had just lost one of their children, Mansumi was finally beginning to worry that something might happen to his own. He was the major head of a world wide corporation, after all. Manta and Mannoko could be targets for anything; kidnap, murder, even terrorists. This was the kick in the butt he needed. Manta hated to admit it, but some good had actually come from his friend's death, and so as dinner progressed, the family talked more and more, until they were finally smiling, and even laughing by dessert. Perhaps becoming a full human wasn't as bad as the shamans made him feel it was. Maybe it wasn't.

-

Knock knock.

Lyserg sighed as he typed on his laptop. "Come in!"

Hao slowly entered the room, then closed the door behind him. "Can I come in?"

The emerald shaman was quite for a moment, then he shrugged. "I guess. Just don't mess my stuff up."

Hao sat next to him on the futon and observed the screen. "What are you doing?"

"I'm looking over newspaper articles. There might be some other weird stuff that's going on that we don't even know about. Maybe it's all connected somehow. Maybe whoever killed Yoh is the one who's doing all this knew stuff."

The Asakura sighed. "You're . . . really working hard . . . to help Yoh, I mean."

Lyserg became still, then nodded. "Of coarse I am. He was my friend. I'm not gonna be able to rest easy until I know who did this, and why."

"I'm sorry . . . for yesterday. That stuff you said, you were right. I had no right to freak out on you because of a picture. There are worse things going on. People are dying, and Manta's having a total butt hole relapse. The picture is the worst of our problems."

"I don't blame you, Hao. If I found a picture of my parents like that, I would've freaked out too. Maybe even more than you did."

The two became quiet, then after letting out a long yawn, Lyserg clsed his laptop. "I need to get to bed. We got school tommorow."

"Aa." Hao lifted to his feet, then walked to the door. "Good night, Lyserg." He froze for a moment, then looked back. "I'm also sorry . . . about your parents."

Lyserg smiled softly. "It's alright, Hao. I forgive you." and with that Hao left the room, and the emerald shaman slowly drifted to sleep, unaware that he was being watched by several eyes.

* * *

**Chuck:** Hee hee hee. So, who is in the room with him? Had to have something weird at the end. - This was more of a Manta chapter than anything. I figured he needed some net time. Well, better get started on the next chappy! 


	6. The Red that Stains

**Chuck:** Hey all! Guess what! I didn't wanna tell you in the last chap, but this is the chapter when you finally find out who killed Yoh! Hee hee hee! I really rushed this one, so get ready folks, for the answer shall now be received!

**Please R&R! PLEASE!

* * *

**

**Chapter 6**

The Red that Stains

_There was a great surge of pain in his lower body, then fury flowed in. He jumped to his feet and stormed down the hallway like a wild animal. He entered the familiar room, then spotted the shaman in the corner of the room. Seeing him only filled him with more rage, so he easily tossed aside the other person, and sent a blow into the shaman's head. Who was the other person? No matter. It wasn't about the other person. It was about this one. He grabbed the boy by the foot, and dragged him out of the room. He would pay for the pain he had caused him. He would pay dearly. . . _

All was quiet in the hotel the next morning. Then there was a cry. It was followed by various other ones. They filled the building, awakening the spirits.

Tokegeroh jumped hearing Ryu's excitement was the same as the other shamans. "Ryu! What is it!"

The shaman laid in is futon trembling; covering his chest were scarlet hand prints.

"Nani! What is that, Ryu!"

"I . . . I'm not sure!" He was silent for a moment, then realized he was not the only one who had cried out. "Tamao-chan! Lyserg-chan!"

As he ran down the hall, Ren sat in his futon examining the red marks on his arms.

Bason hovered closely. "Buchama! Is this . . . blood!"

Ren was silent for a moment, then nodded. "Yes. It is."

The group was assembled downstairs in the living room several moments later. The hand prints were all fairly similar. Some were soft looking, like a child's finger painting, while others were slightly dragged, giving them a demonic look. They were made by the different hands, and the patterns were slightly altered on each shaman. Horo's were on his ankles and wrists, while Ren's were up his arms, and one was on his right cheek. Tamao's were located on her left arm and her right side. Keiko's stomach was decorated by four of them, and Mikihisa had two smeared ones on his back, and one on his chest.

Ryu was frightened when he saw Lyserg, for the emerald boy's throat was covered in the marks. "Lyserg-chan, daijoubu!"

The emerald shaman nodded sleepily. "Aa. Just a little freaked out. Uh? Aren't we missing something?"

"Ah!"

The group looked up hearing Hao's cry. The frightened boy stumbled down the stairs, and into the room, then stared when he saw he was not alone. "What's going on! I had this nightmare and then . . . this!" The boy's hair was matted with red, and under his left eye was a twisted print.

Faust shook his head. "We're not sure. We all just woke up like this."

Keiko had her head laid in Mikihisa's lap. "Who would do this? I mean, did anyone even wake up during the night."

Horo Horo shook his head. "Nope. I feel like I think I had a bad nightmare, but I can't even remember it now."

Ren nodded. "Same here."

The Ainu held the Tao closer, then began stroking the boy's hair. Normally, the Tao would've been angered by this, but considering the circumstances, it was actually quite comforting.

Hao sighed. "I'm gonna go wash up." He slowly went up the stairs, hiding his forming tears from the others.

There was a moment of silence then Horo cringed a little as he held the Tao closer. "I don't like what's going on here."

"Nani!" The group looked to Horo.

"Think about it. All those people who died have somehow been connected to this hotel and what happened Saturday night. Heck, Hao almost killed Omoi Yuri right in front of us."

Mikihisa looked to him. "What are you saying?"

"I'm just saying, maybe the one who's responsible for these new murders is . . . not as far away as we think."

The masked man lifted to his feet, startling Keiko. "You think Hao did it!"

"Uh! Well, I didn't really say that! It's just . . . ." Horo looked away from the angered man. "Maybe Hao's holding a grudge against the people who have been involved with Yoh's death. The one's who peeved him off, you know?"

Lyserg shook his head. "That isn't possible. Hao was in the classroom with you guys when I was almost . . ." The shaman held his throat for a moment, then sighed. "It's not possible."

Horo frowned. "What is possible with him! Maybe he can astral project! The guy's got 1000 years experience of killing people, and you weren't attacked until after you peeved him off! You gotta admit, those deaths were pretty creative for a human!"

The emerald shaman looked down. "The figure was a little familiar looking . . . no! I wont believe it!"

"Why not!" The Ainu looked to Ren. "Ren! You understand, right!"

The Tao was quiet. "I'm . . . not saying his transformation throughout the passed few months hasn't been honest, but . . ." He looked to Lyserg. "Perhaps he's taking this 'Private Justice' thing a bit to seriously. I mean, the paramedics; Yuri . . . they were connected."

Mikihisa slammed his fist into the wall, making the shamans jump. He then hung his head. "Yoh died almost a week ago . . . I've already lost one son, and now your telling me I can't keep my other one?"

Keiko sat up. "You are being a little unfair, Horo Horo. Hao's been doing very well since Top of Star. We can't just blame him for the first bad thing that happens. Anyone could've done it. That's like saying Hao also killed Yoh just because of their bad past together."

Horo's eyes darkened with this new thought. "How do we know he didn't?"

Ryu sat up. "Alright, Horo. Now you're going to far. You know Hao was with us that night, and you also know he's just as determined to find Yoh's killer as much as we are!"

"Well maybe it was Manta! Maybe that's why he's avoiding us!" The Ainu grew quiet, knowing he had said to much. He felt a hand on his back, then looked up and saw Ren smiling with soft eyes.

"It's nice you're trying to help Horo-chan, but if you start thinking like that, well . . . anyone can be a suspect."

Horo's cheeks reddened with Ren's words.

-

Unaware to the group, Hao stood at the top of the stairs, listening to every word. He felt a wave a nausea wash over him. How dare that insolent brat suggest that he murdered his own brother. Why would he? What would he gain? He sighed remembering the dream. He had seen his brother, and even hurt him. The anger felt uncontrollable, like he was on Top of Star again. He shuddered. What if he had done it? Astral projection was not a unlikely as it seemed. He had done it before, though he never told the group. Lyserg was not attacked, until he had angered the shaman. Maybe he was killing these people, and he didn't even know it. The paramedics had taken his brother away to be cut up, Yuri was using the death as a way to make money. It fit perfectly. He hung his head, then quickly relinquished the thoughts. No! He couldn't start thinking like this. Horo was already pointing at him. He needed someone to defend his innocence, even if it was shady, and Yoh was no longer around to do this. He was on his own now, and he had to learn to defend himself. What a funny thought. He, Asakura Hao, finally having to defend himself? It was laughable. He had been the strongest shaman in Shaman Fight, and possibly the world. Him finally having to defend himself? Perhaps the thought was not as empty as he thought, for though he out matched any person physically, and spiritually, he had not yet developed the capacity to cope with others on his own. Without Yoh, he would be forced to learn this. He sighed, then looked down. Aki Taka. It must've been him. He was the only suspect left, and his motives were obvious. He would make the man confess, then the others would accept him once again. Yeah that's what he would do. He's make that bastard confess, then he would burn his soul away, so he could never hurt anyone else.

-

"_Hao?"_

"_Aa, Ototo?"_

"_Uh, I was wondering something . . ." The boy twiddled his thumbs as he talked to his brother. He smiled childishly. "Which star is yours?"_

"_Nani?"_

_The youngest Asakura pointed up to the blanket of stars that spread across the sky, filling the darkness with small lights. "Which one is yours?"_

"_What's this about?"_

_A sheepish smile spread across his face as it reddened with embarrassment. "When I was little I picked out a star that I called my own. When I was sad or lonely, I could go there. Grandpa couldn't yell at me, and I didn't have to worry about training or the other kids at school." His eyes seemed to glow with the soft dots. "When I was sad, I could just look up at it at night, and . . . be safe."_

"_You really are crazy, you know that?"_

"_So . . . which is yours?"_

_Hao looked to his brother, then grinned. "Why, then sun of coarse. It's powerful, bright and wise with age, as am I. It can be seen in both night and day, and to defy it in any way, could lead to one's demise."_

"_You're silly."_

"_Nani!" Hao looked over to the other boy, then felt his face go red as his brother giggled. _

"_You're still acting all tough inside, but you know you're as soft as a kitten."_

"_Kitten? Ha! I demand you take back that comment." The shaman rose to his feet, then held his arms to the sky as his voice rang out. "I am the great Asakura Hao! All will fear and worship me! One day I shall betray my brother's kindness and take this world for myself!"_

_Another giggled was released, which was followed by a yawn and a stretch. "You know you like things as they are now. Mom loves you, Dad loves you . . . I love you."_

_Hao turned to the boy. "You do?"_

"_Aa. I didn't just bring you back here, so I could here you gloat about how powerful you are. I'm really happy you're here with us. It's nice to have a brother."_

_Hao sighed, then sat back down, his brother's words draining his arrogance away. _

"_I've been thinking, Hao. Maybe there's a reason no one won Shaman Fight. Maybe the humans are supposed to fix the world this time."_

"_Hmp! There's gonna burn it into the ground."_

_There was a gentle smile. "Maybe, but don't forget that something good can always rise form the ashes. A new and better life."_

_Hao smiled. "I do believe there was a double meaning in that, Ototo. Were you referring to me?"_

_The boy nodded. "Aa. You are the perfect example."_

"_Well, I am perfect."_

"_Hee hee hee." _

_Hao was suddenly tackled, then he found himself rolling down the hill with his brother. They rolled until they were stopped by a large monument. A few spirits looked over, then grabbing their Saki bottles, faded away, ashamed to be caught with the impish drink. _

_The shamans rose to their feet, then looked to each other. _

_Hao smiled. "I guess we better get home before the guys start thinking we're coming up with a plan to take over the world. We could you know."_

"_Hao . . " The boy's eyes became soft. "No matter what they say, and no matter how they look at you . . . I know you're not bad anymore, so . . . don't let them get you down, okay? They need time to fully understand that you're with us now. A member of our family. I'm not always gonna be there to reassure them. You have to lean to do it on your own."_

_Hao stared at his brother. "Heh heh! Look at you; all wise and grown up now." The boy was silenced, when his brother pulled him into a warm embrace. "Eh?"_

"_I'm really glad you're here with us."_

_He wrapped his arms around his brother. "I hvae you to thank for that, Ototo. Thank you for accepting me." _

-

It was a long shower, about half an hour, at least. It had been soothing. It was like the warm water had washed away the bad and pain along with the red, leaving only a soft feeling of sleep. As Hao walked down the hall, he suddenly felt the temperature drop at his parent's bedroom door. Curious, he slowly opened the door and crept in. He hadn't entered since he was dragged from the room that grim Sunday morning. It looked the same, yet it felt different. How could his parents still sleep in it? It no longer felt of warm and love, but of cold and death. Nothing could cleanse it of the horrible acts that were preformed that night. The room was stained forever. He looked to the closet, then slowly tip toed over. Placing a hand on the wall, he released a long sigh. Who had been there that night? Who could've held such a grudge against the young Asakura, that he would steal away his life? Perhaps it was Aki Taka. They had forgotten to see him the day before, so a little visit before school was probably a good idea. There was a thump. "Nani?" He listened for it again, but there was no encore. Curious, he began to open the door, then a strange feeling washed over him. It was a feeling of anger, and fury. The same one from the dream. What was happening? Ryu's voice suddenly sounded throughout the hotel and it seemed to fade away. "Breakfast is ready!" He glanced at the door once more, than shook his head. "I'm truly losing my mind," and with that he left the room in peace, unaware of the rage that was growing inside him.

-

"Please don't hurt me!" Aki Taka was held by the shirt of his collar by the Asakura. The group had decided they would not go to school today. This was becoming much more serious. Ryu and Tamao waited with the older Asakuras and Faust. Anyone who could do that was most likely out of the ordinary. He had kept his vow to stay in town though. Perhaps they should go easy on him.

Smack! Hao had slammed the shaman into the tree, then lifted him again. "Admit it! You were the one who killed Yoh, and you were at our house last night too; touching us with your bloody hands! Who's was it!"

The grown man began to whimper with fear and confusion, he then dug his face into his hands. "I don't know what you're talking about! I haven't done anything! Honest!"

Anna frowned. "Hao lay off."

"No! I know it's him! I know it!" He lifted his hand, then a fire appeared at his finger tips. "If you know what's good for you, you'll confess!"

"I don't know anything!"

"So small!"

Horo Horo cringed. "Stop it, Hao!" The Ainu tackled Hao into the ground, then slammed his fist into the other boy's face. There was a moment of awkward silence, then Hao slowly lifted to his feet, as the fire on his hand grew more fierce. "Kisama!" He shot a flaming punch at the Ainu, who barely evaded the attack.

"Whoa!" He cringed seeing the shaman continuing the fiery attacks.

Aki Taka climbed into the tree. "He's gone nuts! I told you he was nuts!"

Hao looked back to the cowardly shaman, then shot a blast into the tree.

Anna cringed. "That's enough Hao!" She shot over, and was about to deliver the dream like left hand, when her arm was grabbed and suddenly twisted.

"Get away!" Hao threw the girl, then held his head for a moment. He winced in pain, then shot more blasts of fire at the group.

"Hey, I didn't do anything!" Lyserg began to dodge the attacks, until he was burned in the ribs.

Ren eyed the Asakura quietly. The boy was attacking as he himself had during shaman fight.

Anna frowned as she drew her beads. "He's totally out of control!" She threw the beads up, and was about to preform a chant to restrain the shaman, but her beads were suddenly grabbed out of the air. "Nani?"

Ren handed them to her, then lifted his kwan dao. A few moments passed, then golden blasts of electricity shot from the weapon and into the boy's boy.

Hao dropped to the ground, stunned and exhausted. "N . . . nani?"

Horo helped Lyserg to his feet, then cringed. "You're completely out of control, Hao! You're hurting people, and you're acting like a total jerk! Now, knock it off!"

Hao looked down to his hands as they began to tremble.

"Hao?" Ren walked over to him and knelt down. "What is it? What's wrong?"

"I . . ." The once dangerous shaman began to weep. "I don't know. I feel so angry! And I don't know why!" He looked up to Tao. "I think I'm losing my grip again! I feel so angry!"

Ren placed his hands on his shoulders as his tone became soft. "Hao look at me. Try and calm down. Take a deep breath. Now . . .tell why you're angry."

The shaman inhaled slowly, then began to sob in the Tao's arms. This aroused some jealousy from Horo. "I think . . . I think I might've been the one who killed Yoh."

Ren stared down at the broken boy, then stroked his head. "Now, Hao. You don't really

think that, do you?"

"Yeah! And so do you guys! I heard Horo Horo talking!"

"So then . . . you think you did it, because of his opinion?"

"No! It's not just that! I've been having these dreams, and last night. I saw Yoh . . . and I . . ." The boy lost control of his tears once again, then buried his face in his hands.

Horo was becoming redder and redder as his beloved comforted the pyromaniac.

"Hao . . . you know what your father said. It's your empathy. You didn't do that. You couldn't. At least not to Yoh."

Hao felt his anger draining, leaving him with a feeling of dizziness. "I . . . feel so much better now."

Ren smiled. "See. Told ya."

I . . . I just couldn't control my anger."

Horo forwned. "It's like you said; you're losing your control! We can take you out, you know!"

Hao looked to the shaman in annoyance, then slowly looked down. " I didn't feel like that before. Only after I was in Mom and Dad's room this morning."

"You parent's room?"

"Aa. I had been checking the closet out, when . . ."

Ren frowned. "When what?"

"I had heard something. After Ryu called me down, it just didn't seem important anymore." The boy became quiet. "Actually, the aura coming from it felt the same as last night while I was asleep. You don't think the real murderer is . . ."

The emerald shaman's eyes widened. "We never did check out the closet did we!"

Lyserg shuddered, then Anna cringed. "We better get home. If there's an wanted guest . . . well it could mean a lot of badness."

Ren lifted to his feet. "We should be careful. If it whoever it was could control Hao like that, he's more than just a murderer."

Hao jumped up then looked to Aki. "Gomen for almost killing you! I'll make it up to you! Oh yeah! The tree!"

Horo smirked, then shot a blast of ice that covered the burning branches. "There! All fixed!" and with that the group ran back to the hotel.

-

Keiko was washing dishes when she heard foot steps running around in the dining room. "Hm? Tamao? Is that you?" She peered into the room, then jumped when she saw all the chairs were now up on the table. "Nani!" She studied the table, then looked down to the floor, finding red foot prints on the hard wood floor. "Eh?" She didn't even want to confirm the scarlet. The prints weren't very large. They looked about the size of a teen's. There was suddenly the sound of scurrying up the stairs. "Hey! Get back here!" She shot up after the mystery person then froze when she saw her bedroom door slam. Cautiously, she began to creep to the door, then slowly slid it open. Nothing there? She sighed, then heard a bumping in the closet. "Nani?" She slowly walked over, and opened it, then looked up to the newly discovered door. She shook her head. "No way I'm that stupid."

A soft weeping suddenly came from the hidden room. She held her ear close to the wall, then cringed when she heard how child-like it was. "Keiko, what are you getting yourself into?" She slowly pushed the small door up, then climbed up into the dark room. There was a moment of feeling in the darkness, then she sighed, when she found a flash light. Shining the bright light around, she spotted a cluster of blankets in the far corner. "Nani?" Crawling over, her curiosity got the best of her, and she began to search through them. There was something in them. Something wrapped. Sheet by sheet, then parsel became smaller, then she finally drew the last one. She wished she hadn't.

-

"What are you all doing back so soon?"

Hao quickly kicked the lego shoes off. "Dad! We think there might be someone living in the attic, that's why . . ."

There was a loud screech from upstairs, then the group shot, Miki leading once again. They ran into the opened room, then froze when they saw the attic door open.

"Keiko!" Miki shot for the opening, then found his wife trembling by the opening. "Keiko! What is it!" he looked over, then was pushed aside by the others. They all got a good look at the boy. There, lying in the sheets was the final clue that broke the case; the body of Miano Yoko.

* * *

**Chuck:** Tada! Surprised! Them finding the body was actually quite funny when I first typed it out, but I decided to changed it a bit. Well, stay tuned for the next chap, cause is Takashi ever gonna have some explaining to do! - Please Review! 


	7. Out of the Closet

**Chuck: **Yo! I got this one updated pretty fast, huh. Hee hee hee. The title on this one may change soon. I might think of a better one. Well, hope ya enjoy! In put lots of stuff in this one. TT

**Please R&R**

* * *

**Chapter 7**

Out of the Closet

It was 8:00p.m when the boy finally arrived him. Takashi had just been entering his apartment. The key was slipped into the lock, then he turned the handle. He walked into the small lobby. "Mom! I'm home!"

"Hello Takashi."

"Eh?" The boy frowned seeing the shamans in his living room. "How'd you guys get in here!"

Hao sneered. "You're apartment door was unlocked."

"No way! My mom never leaves the door unlocked! Where's my mom!"

"She's not here." Mikihisa lifted to his feet, then eyed the teen. "This is him, Hao?"

"Aa."

The masked man continued to study the boy sadly, then he looked to the others. "Kind of young to be a murderer isn't he?"

Horo frowned. "You never can tell with humans."

"Murderer! What are you talking about!"

Faust lifted the large parcel from the couch, then placed it before Takashi. "What was this doing in our attic?"

The boy studied it for a moment, then unwrapped the sheets. He cried out when he saw his friend's corpse. "Yoko!"

Anna frowned. "That's right, Takashi! We know you were there that night, now why did you do it?"

"I don't know what your talking about!"

Mikihisa stepped toward the boy. "You see this women?" He pointed to Keiko. "She's just like your mother. Last Sunday she saw her son dead. Now, we need to know what you know, or life could become quite unpleasant."

Takashi stared at the tall man. He could feel the sorrow radiating off him. He could see the sadness through the small eye holes of the mask. The man had him cornered. No more running. The boy threw himself at Mikihisa's feet. "Okay! I admit it! We's the guys who done it; Me, Yoko, Junen and Goro! We's done it, but we didn't mean too! We were hired by a guy who just wanted us to rough him up a little, and we did, but then Yoko got a little carried away. When Yoh started calling for help, we wanted to quiet him down, so we had Goro . . ."

"You crushed his throat."

Takashi looked up to the doctor, then nodded. "Well, uh . . . yeah."

The group looked to the German shaman. Faust sighed. "The ring around his neck had to have been caused by something like that."

Takashi continued. "After that, Yoko wanted to have a bit of fun so he convinced Goro to, you know, mess around with him a bit."

Ren frowned. "Mess around!"

"Yeah. Mess around. You know, touching him and stuff. Goro was always kind of sweet on the guy, but Yoh was tougher then we thought. When Goro was starting to really get into it, Yoh kicked him in the petunia, then got out of the room with the phone. We panicked. We couldn't let him tell anyone what we'd been doing. We'd go to jail. So Yoko, Junen, and me chased after him, but when we heard he couldn't talk, we stopped. But Goro . . . Well . . . he's kinda got these anger issues, and he was kinda pissed about Yoh kicking him in his personal space, so he . . . did a little more than rough him up."

Horo hung his head. "He killed him."

"Well, no actually. He, uh . . ."

Anna looked up angrily. "He what!"

"It wasn't his fault! Yoh pissed him off!"

Hao cringed. "What did he do!"

"He . . .uh . . . raped him."

The group was silent, then, Faust slowly began to speak up. "That would explain the blood that was . . . oh . . ."

As the doctor found himself becoming nauseated, Lyserg sighed. "And the scratches on the floor?"

"Yoh shot into another room. When Goro found him, he dragged him out." Takashi looked down. "When Goro finally got control of his anger, well . . .Yoh wasn't really moving anymore. He just laid there . . . staring. We panicked, so we thought we'd just you know . . ."

Keiko began to sob as, Ren frowned. "Hide the body."

"Yeah. Yoko thought the closet would be a good place, so we opened it up, and when we saw the trap door in the ceiling, it was too perfect. Our employer was there that night as well. He saw what had happened. He uh . . . payed us triple."

Hao lost control. "Why the hell would you guys pull something like this! I knew you guys were horrible, but murders! Yoh was one of the only one's at school who didn't wanna throw a rock at ya!"

"Like I said, we were hired . . . by a guy . . . He paid the movie theater guy to say that we'd went to see 'Hanabi Passion'just in case anyone got curious, which is what gave us our alibi."

Hao began to tremble with rage. "Paper. It's always over stupid pieces of paper. Well congratulations! I'm so happy that my brother's life could put some more paper in your pockets."

Tamao wiped away a few tears. "Why did you do it in Mikihisa-san and Keiko-san's room?"

"We was told to. Our employer told us we's had to do it in that room. He gave us pictures and everything."

Hao cringed. "You sick little, filth. And it wasn't bad enough that you murdered him, you set it up so he'd fall out when someone went up there too, didn't you!"

"What? What are you talking about? We just pushed him into the back."

The group grew silent, then Lyserg tilted his head. "Then how did Yoh-kun fall out like that?"

"Look! I don't care, alright! Now I told ya everything I know, so call him off! Make him go away! I knows it was you's who been doing it!"

"What?" Ryu tilted his head. "What are you talking about?"

"You know, you're weird, freaky kid. Make him leave me alone. It was probably him who got Yoko, Junen disappeared Tuesday, and I haven't heard a word from Goro all week. His mom said he's got a bunch of newspapers taped on his windows so whatever that guy is can't get in."

The group looked to each other.

Lyserg pulled out the small notebook. "You say this thing has been attacking your friends?"

"Yeah! Why, he even chased me in here last night, then he just . . . vanished."

Lyserg looked to the others. "Okay Takashi, listen up; we're going to help you, but you have to cooperate with anything we say, alright?"

Hao cringed. "Why are we helping him!"

"Because what ever is attacking him, maybe what's really attacking those other people. Plus, it could also be our unwelcome guest from last night. We should check out the Junen's place; try and figure out what this thing is, how it works."

Ryu smiled. "Having fun being the leader, all of a sudden?"

The emerald shaman giggled.

Miki shook his head. "No."

"Nani?" The younger shamsn looked to Mikihsa.

"We don't have any idea what this thing is. I don't want you looking for it until we're certain how to beat it."

Ren nodded. "I would feel a little better, if we actually knew what it was. Is there anyway to show what he looks like?"

Takashi's eyes brightened."Yeah! This building has video cameras, and I know the guy who sets them up. I can get the tape of me being chased from him!" The boy began to walk to the door.

"Takashi."

He looked back to Hao.

"Don't think about running off, cause I will find you, and trust me, you wont want that."

-

They waited for about ten minutes, then the bully returned with a black VHS cassette. "Here it is!" He froze seeing the shamans had raided his fridge. "Hey! You can't eat all that!"

The shamans stared at him for a moment, then took what they had and sat in the living room. Keiko was allowed the couch with Mikihisa, and Ryu. Hao sat in a large lime green bean bag chair, while Ren sat on the arm of the couch. The others sat on the floor, spread around the t.v.

Takeshi pushed the tape into the VCR, and it began to play.

It began with the empty hallway of Takeshi's apartment building. Nothing happened for a few moments, then there was a noise. They watched as Takeshi ran down the hall from the stairs to his apartment. He was trembling , and exhausted as he fiddled with the key. After a minute, the boy finally achieved success, and slammed the door shut.

"Hm . . ." Ryu was about to comment, when a strange distorted figure suddenly opened the door of the stairs.

Takashi began to panic. "That's him! That's the guy!"

It walked unusually slow, a limp in it's left leg and a rattling sound radiating from it. As it lopped closer to the boy's door, the image began to flicker and go static until all of the blackness left, revealing the truth. There, beyond life or death was Asakura Yoh. His flesh was practically blue, and his hair and body was a mess, but under all of that, the group was still able to identify him.

The groups' eyes widened.

He had just reached the door, when he looked up to the camera that watched him. He was still, then he slowly walked toward it. He seemed to walk out of it's view, then after a moment of silent thought from the group, his eyes could suddenly be seen spread across the screen, as the rattling was now louder. On his cheek, a long stream of scarlet stained under his eye. A tear? The screen went static. The group was silent.

Hao began to tremble, then he slowly looked to the bully. "What did you do to this tape?"

"Nani?"

"What did you do to this tape!" Hao felt the strange rage beginning to form again, but he was quickly restrained before he could hurt Takashi. "Get off of me! That bastard messed with the tape!"

Ren held Hao's arms down. "Hao, you have to calm down."

"No! That bastard killed him, and now he's trying to pin a bunch of murders on him." He looked to his parents.

Keiko sat quietly, then leaned her head on Mikihisa's chest.

Miki became strong for her. He wrapped an arm around her then sighed. "Hao . . . I think that was Yoh."

"Nani! Dad!"

Miki placed a hand on his mask, then sighed. He had to be strong. "Hao, I think Yoh's become an angry spirit."

Ryu looked down. "It would explain a few things I guess . . ."

Hao cringed. "Like what! You really think Yoh killed those people?"

"There's always a possibility."

Hao clenched his fist, trying not to punch his father. "Yoh would never do that! Never, and especially not to Lyserg! Why would he!"

Lyserg looked to him. "We did just have a fight. Maybe he channeled in on that and . . ."

Hao felt tears forming. "No . . . He wouldn't. He . . ." He couldn't hold back any longer. He leapt from the chair, and into Mikihisa's other arm.

"Nani?" Miki held the boy quietly, still restraining himself. "Hao . . ."

"They turned him into a bad thing, Daddy. We gotta help him. Help him to cross-over."

Horo Horo sighed. "So . . . what do you think his attachment is?"

Ren frowned. "I think it's pretty obvious." He looked over to Takashi, who sat quietly. "Yoh wants revenge. He wants to kill the ones who killed him."

Takashi's eyes widened.

"But what about those other people?"

Ren looked to Lyserg. "They were probably getting in the way. I used to take out people who were in my way."

The group became quiet.

Takashi didn't like this. "So . . . how are you going to protect me?"

Hao frowned. "We should just let him take you. It's justified."

Mikihisa shook his head. "No. He deserves jail time, but death is very extreme. You can't learn from death."

"But Dad . . .!" The Asakura knew there was no argument against his father. "Oh, fine!"

Takashi sighed in relief, the he was suddenly grabbed by the collar of his shirt.

He wasn't aggressive as he lifted the boy up, he merely wanted to frighten him a little. If he had to be strong, he at least wanted to show that he was not pleased with the bully.

Hao stared at his father. "Dad . . ."

"This is how it's gonna work, Takashi . . ." Miki's tone was soft, yet firm. "You're going to tell us who your employer is, then we're going to figure out how to calm Yoh's spirit without killing you."

Takashi stared at the man. "Then what?"

"Then you and your boss are going to jail. Understand?"

The bully eyed Mikihisa quietly, then frowned. "I want protection first, then I'll tell ya who my boss is."

What a nuisance. The masked man thought for a moment, then sighed. "All right, but if something happens, you have to tell us on the spot who they are, alright?"

"Aa." The two shook hands, then Takashi was lowered back to the floor.

Lyserg sighed. "All right then. Lets get on our way."

"Nani?" Takashi looked to him. "What do you mean?"

"We have to investigate Junen's place. Maybe there's a clue to where he went, and how Yoh is killing people."

Ryu looked down. "All the deaths have been so simple. Drowning in sinks, suffocation with pictures."

Keiko looked up, her tears finally fading. "That boy, Yoko, he was wrapped really tight. I had trouble getting them unwound."

Lyserg jotted this down. "Hm. There's probably a connection. Come on, lets get going."

Horo paused. "Uh guys, don't you think we should call Manta? He might want to know this?"

The group was silent for a moment, then Mikihisa shook his head. "No. Lets not get him involved. He's had enough trouble already," and with that they left the small apartment, unaware of the ghostlyeyes watching them.

* * *

**Chuck:** So . . . . . crickets Another weird ending to a chapter. Hee hee hee. Who did hire the bullies, and how will they calm Yoh's angered spirit? God only knows. Though I must inform you . . . . . . . this fic isn't close to being over yet so stay tuned. There's still some twists along the way. 


	8. Two Down

**Chuck:** Yo! The next to chapter is linked with this one, so the titles for both of them are linked as well. Hee hee hee. Well, hope ya all enjoy this one, cause you get explore the bullies' bakgrounds a bit. ENJOY!

once again, my proofreader is unavailable. Gomen! TT

**Please R&R

* * *

**

**Chapter 8**

Two down

Takashi knocked on his friend's door. "I told you. Junen's mom left when he disappeared. Stress, you know? She's staying with her friends while they try and find him." No answer. He turned to the group with a sigh. "Like I said, no one's home."

Hao suddenly kicked the door down.

"Dude! You can't do that!"

The shamans entered the apartment quietly. The lights were off and the windows closed. There were no traces of Junen or his mother.

Mikihisa began to search the kitchen, while Ren and Horo checked out the living room.

Lyserg sighed. "It's convenient how you all live in the same building."

"Yeah. It works out pretty well."

"Have you ever done work like this before?"

Takashi looked to the emerald shaman. "What do you mean?"

"Have you ever killed people for money before? If we're going to nail you for Yoh, we might as well bring some justice to your other victims."

"Hey! Like I said, killing Yoh was an accident. Things got crazy, okay?"

Keiko sighed. "Can we hold off with all conversations about Saturday night? I'd rather wait until this is all over."

Lyserg nodded, then the bully eyed the group. "So . . . do you guys do this often?"

"Nani?"

"Hunt ghosts. Are you like professional ghost busters?"

Ren sighed. "It's as we've said at school, Takashi. We're shamans. We don't usually 'bust' ghosts, but we do work with them. Why, Ryu's partner spirit is putting his hand through your stomach as we speak.

"Nani!" The boy jumped.

Amidamaru floated around the room quietly. "Tell the boy, we're not necessarily hunting a ghost."

Mikihisa looked to Takashi. "Amidamaru says 'we're not necessarily hunting a ghost."

"Who's Amidamaru?"

"He was Yoh's partner spirit until you . . ." He sighed. "He is the spirit of the samurai Amidamaru from 600 years ago."

"600 years ago? You mean . . . You guy's are hanging out with the Fiend!"

Tamao frowned. "He's not a fiend! Tell him, Anna-san!"

The Itako studied the bully. "What was written about Amidamaru was wrong. If you survive this . . . perhaps we will explain it to you."

The bully froze. "What do you mean 'if'?"

Faust looked to him. "There is a slight chance that we wont be able to stop Yoh from getting to you."

Hao sneered. "Slight? There's a 99.9 chance that when Yoh shows up, we're just gonna leave with him."

Keiko sighed as the bully began to rant, then she walked over to Amidamaru. "Daijoubu?"

"I just don't understand. If this is Yoh-dono's spirit, why hasn't he revealed himself to us? It just seems . . . strange."

"Well, he is an angry spirit."

"Yes, but not even us spirits can sense his presence."

Keiko smiled softly. "Perhaps . . . he's mischievous."

Amidamaru looked to the women.

"Before I found that boy's body in the attic, I heard something run up stairs. When I looked into the dinning room, all the chairs were up on the table."

The spirit was quiet.

"I think . . . maybe someone was playing a game."

"Sou kaa?"

Keiko nodded. "Aa. When Yoh was little, and he was grounded, he would play small tricks on the family until his punishment was through. Simple things, nothing dangerous. Just small things to annoy us."

Amidamaru saw the women's eyes becoming misty.

"I . . . miss him so much."

The spirit wrapped held the women close, trying to somehow ease her pain.

"I . . . I thought I was getting over this, but I guess not." She suddenly looked up, seeing Mikihisa approach.

"Daijoubu, Keiko. We're going to help him. Then he can rest in peace."

Keiko stared at her husband quietly, then nodded with a soft sigh. "Hai."

"Hey guys, come here!" The group ran into the bathroom, hearing Hao's call. The shaman was brushing his hand over the think frosty glass doors that encased the tub. "I keep getting weird vibes from the tub. Maybe . . . Junen disappeared here."

Ren shrugged. "Sounds a little weird, but there's always a possibility."

Hao sighed, then closed his eyes as he began to focus.

Takashi stared. "What's he doing?"

Miki eyed his son for a moment. "He's trying to use his empathy to see what happened."

"How can he do that! That doesn't make any sense! Are you guys-!" The bully's mouth was suddenly duff taped.

Ren smiled. "There! That should shut ya up!"

Hao ignored the voices, as they began to fade away. Everything was fading. He had to know what had happened to Junen that night. He needed to know how far gone Yoh really was . . .

* * *

_Satoshi Junen hummed a soft tune as he showered himself. The weight of his actions were becoming too much, so he planned to finish his shower, soak in the bath, then go to a movie. He had already made the note for his mom to see when she got home from her shift at the mall. As he stroked his hands down his hair, he was reminded of how Yoh's had felt as he carried him into the dark attic. The blood on his hands had stained it, leaving the once soft hair matted and damp with red. He shuddered. "God, why did we ever think of taking that crappy job? Dammit, the pay wasn't worth it!" He wanted to go to the police, but they had all made a pact, and it would be wrong to break it, but wasn't killing a fellow student a lot worse? He was just rinsing his hair when he felt something in his hand. "Nani?" He looked and saw a few strands of red hair. He sighed. "God, I hate stress." Junen's mom loved bathing and she had this tub designed special. Though it was a tub, it also had frosty glass doors that extended to the ceiling, incase someone were to walk in by accident. Junen, however, never closed them because he was claustrophobic. He finished rinsing, and was about to reach for a towel, when his hand his a sheet of glass. He whipped around to see the door was closed. "Nani!" He began to panic immediately. After several moments of struggling with the handle, Junen found the door was locked from the outside. "Mom! Are you there! Please, if you are open the door!" Not knowing what to do, he turned the water off and sat quietly. He drew his knees to his chest, as he began to panic. The tub seemed to be shrinking. "What's going on?" He looked down sadly, only to discover that the drain was clogged by hair, but it wasn't red like his. It was a dark color. "Nani?" He examined it quietly, then shuddered as he felt bit of his hair lifted up. Hands were running up his neck and through his hair. He slowly looked up, then became wide-eyed with what he found._

_Yoh hung from the ceiling, pale and as bare as Junen was. The boy was still covered in the bruises, and cuts the four had inflicted upon him, and with soft rattle, he continued to run his crimson fingers through Junen's hair, such as Junen had done as he carried Yoh into the attic. _

_Junen stared in horror, and began to jump up, when he suddenly pushed down onto his back by an invisible force. "Eh!" The tap at the rim of the tub suddenly began running scarlet water, while the shower head began spewing mats of dark hair on him. "Nani!" As he struggled to free himself from the ghostly grip, he found that the hair seemed to be alive, as each strand slowly began to wrap around parts of his body; his legs, his arms. Everything seemed to be devoured by the dark strands. He tried to call out for help, but he was easily muffled as a matt of hair shot into his mouth. "Uh!" _

_The ghostly boy, slowly lowered himself into the water and sat on the boy's stomach. He began to move his hands up and down Junen's body and as he did, more hair covered him. The phantom boy continued to release the same soft rattling sound that the red head had heard him make as he tried to call his family for help, and Junen knew this was punishment for his deeds. _

_He pleaded in his mind, begging for forgiveness from the undead shaman, but even that was broken when the black strands began to enter his nose and ears. In a matter of seconds he lost all feeling in his body. He couldn't move, he couldn't breath. He was nothing more than a pair of eyes in a black mass in the crimson water. _

_The ghost stared upon him with emotionless eyes._

"_I'm sorry! I'm so sorry, just please stop it, Yoh! Please let me go!" the boy's mind begged. _

_Yoh slowly waved goodbye to the mass, then simply pulled the plug._

_When Junen's mother finally returned home, she found a note on the table. _

"_Out late. Seeing a movie. Will be home soon."_

_She smiled, then entered the bathroom. She began to wash her face when she noticed something strange in the tub. She gasped at the horrid sight. There sitting in the tub was a small ring of red hair around the drain. _

"_Tsk, tsk, tsk. That boy." and so she ran the water for a moment, then left the bathroom, unaware that the remaining bit of her son had just been washed down the drain.

* * *

_

Hao gasped, the world rushing back to him. The voices returned, and with them the present.

"Hao! Daijoubu!"

He slowly looked to his father, his eyes wide. "Yoh is . . . really messed up."

Takashi cringed. "So spill! What did he do to Junen!"

The shaman sighed, then suddenly looked up."He . . . killed him."

"I kinda figured that, but how did he do it!"

"The whole thing was kind of twisted. I'd prefer not to talk about it." He lifted his hand from the glass, then looked to the bully. "Was their any reason for Yoh to kill Junen involving hair?"

"Well . . . uh . . ." He though for a moment, then the silver-haired boy sighed. "When Yoko and Junen put him in the attic, Junen said he accidentally got blood in his hair. Could that have anything to do with it?"

"I want to see what happened to Yoko as well. I want to get all the connections figured out."

"Nani!" Mikihisa cringed. "Hao, you've already used your empathy a lot today. Perhaps, you should wait."

"No! I want to see it now!" The shaman shot past his father, and out the door. Yoko's body had been left at Takashi's room. When he entered, he sighed, seeing it hadn't moved. He lifted the sheet a little, and placed his hand on the boy's arm. The shamans followed several seconds later, but by then the world was already fading away again, leaving the shaman quiet and alone, he then felt the images begin to play in his head.

* * *

_He was silent as he walked. The whole ordeal had left his friends weary, and he himself also felt exhaustion weighing him down. He looked up to Goro, who probably felt the worse. Though they had tried to convince him that he wasn't responsible for what happened, the massive boy was still guilt ridden. Yoko sighed. "Goro, it's like we said. That wasn't your fault. You were like another person."_

_Junen sighed. "Can we please not talk about it. I feel bad enough." _

_Yoko became silent, then lowered his gaze. Then he discovered it. "Shit!" _

_The other three boys stopped, and looked to him. Takashi sighed. "What is it?"_

"_My ring! The one with the onyx and ivory yin yang! It's gone!"_

"_Well where could it be?"_

_Yoko froze for a moment, then sighed. "I bet it's back at the hotel."_

_Junen frowned. "Well you can't go back there! They could be home by now."_

"_I'll just go poke around. If their not there, then I'll search the place."_

_Goro shook his head. "You . . . you shouldn't Yoko. Something bad could happen."_

_The Goth-like boy tilted his head. "Like what? The only person there is already dead. What's he gonna do? Come back to life and eat my brains?" His friends were silent, then he turned away from them. "I'll catch up later, alright? Don't worry about it," and with that he began to run back to the hotel. A silly ring. Why would anyone tale such a risk? As he ran he remembered what it represented. The time before badness had come. Yoko's mother, Miano Eokie had divorced her husband, due to his compulsive drinking and aggressive behavior. All had been right, once his father was out of the picture. Yoko was cared for quite well, and was never sad with his mother. She was able to make up for the lack of a male role model with her own love, and knowledge of the other gender. This combined was enough to raise her son into a wonderful person. Then it happened. One might, after Yoko was put to bed, a fire was suddenly started inside the house. The flames consumed the house as quickly as they appeared. A neighbor had been able to rescue the boy, but unfortunately, his mother was unable to escape. After further investigation, it appeared the fire was started in her room, so the police assumed it was suicide, though Yoko never believed it. With no other guardians available, the police had no choice but to release Yoko into his father's custody, along with his step mother. Life was hard after that. His father was abusive both emotionally, and physically and his step mother was the type who would just sit back and watch the show that her husband provided. The ring that he now cared for was all he had left of the women he once knew. It had been found on her body when she was taken from the house, so Yoko automatically received it. He could no longer remember her face or her voice. All that remained was a vague memory of her eyes, deep and blue. He had to find that ring no matter what. _

_He soon arrived at the hotel, then sighed when he saw the lights were all off. "Probably not back yet." He slowly opened the door, then began to head up the stairs. He had remembered seeing it on his hamd when he carried Yoh up into the attic. It was probably there. After checking the rooms to be sure no one else was there, he finally entered the dark room. He walked to the closet, then slid it open half expecting something to jump out. Nothing did. There was a moment of silence, then he sighed as he pushed away the small trap door. Darkness. He drew a flashlight from the small bag he carried, then began to brighten the musty room as he climbed up. He waved the beam around, now noticing the amount of dust that was there. "Geez. No one's been up here for a while." He began to crawl around the dark attic, praying the ring would be undamaged, then froze when the light illuminated the pale figure in the back. He sighed, then slowly crept over._

_The boy hadn't moved from his spot, his eyes still staring into the darkness. _

_Yoko knelt down and began to study the corpse. Tears still dampened the pale face, and the sheets around him were now scarlet. The bully had been quite cold when they had discovered the shaman dead, but now, sitting alone in the darkness with him, he began to feel guilt. He slowly sat the flashlight down, then placed a hand on the cold cheek. "I'm sorry this happened ,Yoh. I'm sorry we did this to you. We had . . . no right." The boy looked down, then winced when he noticed something. One of the hands was exposed, revealing the ring. "Nani?" He slowly lifted the hand, then slipped it off. "How did you get on him?" Thump. Thump. He looked back hearing the noise, then cringed. "Who's there!" No response. He began to crawl to the other side of the attic, when there was suddenly a strange rattling sound from behind him. "Nani!' He shuddered, then slowly looked back. Nothing. Only darkness, and the corpse. Wait. The body was no longer wrapped in the sheets. "Eh?" He jumped to his feet, then began to stumble back, when he suddenly was tripped. Crash. He landed in something soft, yet damp. What ever it was, it was moving. Slowly sitting up, he began to tremble, seeing the sheets that had broken his fall were no wrapping around him tightly. He struggled to free himself, but it was no use. In a matter of seconds, his lungs couldn't receive any air, and his body ached. What was happening? He thoughts were cut off, when he suddenly felt something grab hold of his foot. Struggling to sit up, he shot his head up, then became horrified discovering the ghostly boy that now crawled out of the darkness. How could this be possible? He looked to the corner, but still found Yoh's limp figure there. He had no time to figure anymore out, for in a matter of moments he felt himself being dragged into the dark corner, consumed by both the sheets and the strange rattle sound that now clouded his mind.

* * *

_

"Hao!"

The shaman woke up, then smiled slightly seeing he was in Keiko's arms.

"Daijoubu?"

"Aa. It was just . . . intense." The boy sat up, then looked to the bully. "Yoko wa sthe one who pointed out the attic, right?"

"Uh, yeah."

Hao lifted to his feet. "Yoh's killing you guys in ways that are related to his death."

The bully cringed. "Sou kaa?"

Ren was quiet then he looked to the others. "We should get to Goro's place. Two down, two to go. Who knows what Yoh's gonna do to him."

"Aa." Mikihisa looked to Hao. "No more empathy for tonight, alright?"

"Okay. I promise," and with that the group quickly left the room, and headed to the next floor. Goro was there, but the bully had problems of his own.

* * *

**Chuck:** Hee hee hee! My updating's been pretty good. So yeah, I hope everyone's really enjoying this fic, cause I've been really hauling butt! Well, I'd better get started on the next chapter. TTFN! 


	9. Two to Go

**Chuck:** Well folks, this chapter could very well be the end. Will Yoh kill the remaining bullies, or will the shamans be able to save em! All shall be revealed! It's a lil rushed, but yeah! Enjoy!

**Please R&R**

* * *

**Chapter 9**

Two to Go

He sat in his room quietly, alone and guilt ridden. He could still feel the warm flesh against him; smell the sweet shampoo as the boy squirmed under his weight. It sickened him to remember the boy's incoherent pleas as he gasped for air. How could he have let it come to this? Yoh had been a good person, friendly and nice, and now he was gone. How could he have let the beast within get so much control, that he would do something so horrible to another human being? All that remained of his victim was the ghostly image that imprisoned him in the room. He was waiting, watching him through the cracks of newspapers that were plastered onto the windows. Those would not save him for long. The bully felt that justice was upon him. Why did he even fight it? He held his pounding head. Was any of it real? Did he really do those horrible things? The soft rattling could be heard once again, and the boy shuddered. He curled up under his sheets, then began to weep. His mother was out getting him medicine, but he knew it wouldn't help. Nothing was going to stop the angered shaman. He bit his lip, trying to stop his tears, when the lamp on his night table suddenly shattered. He cried out, then after a moment, felt something wet and sticky against his cheek. He slowly looked up, then fell into shock as the boy hung over him. His flesh pale, and his body beaten, the shaman had the appearance of a fallen angel to the bully. Was that what he was? A fallen angel inflicting it's wrath? He knew it had gotten Yoko, and he knew Junen was gone as well. Now it was his turn, and so he closed his eyes and awaited for justice to be inflicted upon him, unable to move or speak. Only wait.

* * *

The group stood waiting for the elevator impatiently. Tamao was actually hopping around with anxiety. "Why didn't we think to check Goro-san first!"

Lyserg kept hitting the button, when his hand was suddenly caught by Ryu.

"Daijoubu, Lyserg. Just let it come down."

Takashi cringed. "If Goro dies because of you, I'll make sure you regret it."

Hao looked to the bully, then slammed him into the wall. "You're the one's who killed Yoh." He slowly lifted his free hand up, a small orb of fire surrounding it. "I say I just finish Yoh's work now!"

"No Hao!" Mikihisa took Takashi from Hao, then placed him beside Lyserg. "Gomen Hao, but it isn't right."

"And killing Yoh was!"

"He'll get his punishment, but for now we have to keep Yoh from hurting anyone else."

Ding! The elevator had landed. They quickly loaded into the small shaft, then Horo Horo looked to Takashi. "Which floor?"

"It's, uh, 8."

Once the destination was set, they all stood quietly, the soft elevator music the only sound in the room. It was sickening.

Mikihisa sighed. "Takashi?"

"What?"

"Who hired you?"

"I told yous I aint saying till I'm safe."

"Whoever did is also in danger. We can't protect him if we don't know who he is."

"You think I give a crap? I only care about my friends!"

Ren frowned. "God, you really are sick! And I thought Yoko was bad."

The music suddenly ceased and the elevator stopped moving.

"Nani?" Anna lifted the phone from the wall, but there was no dial tone. "Hmp."

Lyserg cringed. "We're stuck in here?"

There was suddenly a loud banging coming from above them. They looked up to the light, then cringed when is started flickering.

Keiko placed her head against Mikihisa's chest. "Is that Yoh?"

"I'm not sure." He didn't want to admit it, but Yoh was the only possibility.

The banging was getting closer to the elevator roof. They heard something land, then begin scratching at the metal that shielded them.

"Knock it off!" Horo Horo kicked the wall, then jumped when the elevator began to rise again.

Ren smirked. "Good thinking, Horo Horo."

"Uh, yeah!"

The moment the elevator stopped, the group shot out. As Tamao was exiting, a hand suddenly grabbed her pant leg. "Nani?"

The hand was pale and stained with red.

Ryu cringed, then kicked the hand away. He tried to peer into the small room as the doors closed, but all he saw were a pair of dark eyes. "Tamao-chan, daijoubu!"

"Hai! Just a little scared." She examined her pants, then cringed. "Ew. Gross." She slowly removed a few pieces of sticky hair that the hand had left.

Hao frowned. "Uh, come on!" The group followed the Asakura, but when they reached Goro's apartment, and threw open his bedroom door, everyone froze.

The boy laid in his bed, staring up at the ceiling. His throat had been mangled, and his shoulder's bruised.

"Oh god!" Keiko dropped to her knees, then began to weep in her husband's arms. "I refuse to believe that Yoh is doing this! He could never do this!"

Miki cradled his wife. "Daijoubu, Keiko. We'll fix this." The masked man looked to the shamans. "We need to get her out of here."

Lyserg shook his head. "We can't just leave the body!"

Takashi stared at his murdered friend in horror. "Goro . . ."

Seeing the bully's pain, Faust sighed. "Take Keiko along with Takashi into the living room. I'd like to examine Goro's body."

As they were told, the group escorted Takashi and Keiko into a small living room. Keiko was laid down on a couch, while Takashi sat on a chair just left to the couch.

The bully's lip quivered as he held back tears. "Their . . . all gone. Yoko, Junen, Goro . . ."

"Everyone but you and your employer."

Takashi looked to Hao who stared down at him with a blank expression.

"Who's your employer. Takashi?"

"I . . . can't say . . ."

Mikihisa was a very patient man, but even that was now wearing down. "Why not?"

"If I live through this whole thing, he'd just come and kill me anyway."

"He?"

Takashi slapped his head. "Damn it!"

Ryu cringed. "Before we question you any further, is there anything you left out about Saturday night? Any reason why Yoh would kill Goro like that?"

"Well, actually . . ."

Horo rolled his eyes.

"It's just . . . I didn't think it was important."

Miki sighed. "Every detail is important."

"Well, when we first arrived at the hotel, Goro and Yoko climbed up a tree and started spying inside to see if Yoh was home. The tree they climbed just happened to be the one by one of the bathrooms. Goro spotted Yoh in the shower, and said he wanted to watch him, so . . . yeah. He watched, then when he finally climbed down he said that Yoh had gotten an uneasy look and it looked like he had ended his shower early."

Hao looked down sadly. "He figured out that someone was spying on him. That's why he phoned the first . . ." Hao trailed off, when he saw his father begin to slouch. "Dad . . . I'm . . ."

Faust entered the room, then sighed. "The poor boy was in shock before he died."

Takashi shuddered. "Geez, he was staring at the ceiling just like Yoh."

"Junen had been running his fingers though Yoh's hair, then he died in his shower. Yoko was killed in the closet after suggesting the closet, but Goro died while in a state of shock. How does that . . .." The doctor's eye twitched, a new thought dawning on him, then he looked to the guilt ridden boy. "Did you check his pulse?"

"What now?"

"When Yoh was staring at the ceiling after Goro's . . . encounter, did any one of you check him for a pulse?"

"Well . . . uh . . . no. Not exactly."

Faust's eyes darkened. "You realize he could've been catatonic, right?"

"Cata-what now?"

"IN SHOCK!"

The group all grew still, as the doctor began to pace around the room.

"Yes it all makes sense. All the of your deaths have been linked with the actions preformed that night, whether they be relevant or not. Junen and the hair, Yoko and the closet . . .." Faust paused as he stared at the fresh corpse. ". . . Goro and the shock." He turned to Takashi. "And what did you do!"

Takashi stared in disbelief, then began trembling. "No . . . I can't go out that way! No!" The boy shot for the door.

Hao cringed. "Takashi, wait!"

"I wont let him get me!" Frightened, Takeshi threw the door open, only to find his fate waiting for him. There was a surge of pain, then Takashi slowly looked down to find that Yoh's hands now had long claws, which had quickly slashed the boy's chest as he tried to flee.

Takashi looked up shakily. "Yoh . . .," and with that he dropped to the floor.

"Eh!" The group jumped back.

The ghostly boy looked up to them quietly. His eyes were dark, yet they held a look of deep sorrow towards the group. He turned away and as he crept, he slowly faded away..

Hao poked his head out just in time to see his brother leave, then he slowly looked to his friends and family. "I think he's gone."

Ryu now held Tamao and Lyserg close. "Are . . . you sure? I mean he was so sudden."

"What ever Takashi did it wasn't very relevant." The young Asakura sighed. "He's done now."

* * *

It was 11:35p.m as the group sat in the living room of the hotel. Everything seemed strange. Could Yoh be considered bad for what he had done? Killing people was wrong, but the shaman had been justified.

Keiko slept with her head against her husband's chest as he stroked her hair.

Faust entered the room with a small cup of tea. "This is for Keiko."

"Arigoto, Faust."

Horo sat next to Ren staring down at his feet. "So . . . is Yoh really done?"

Hao nodded. "Aa. The only person left the employer, and without Takashi's knowledge, we can't do much. Yoh will finish with him, then become settled."

Ren shook his head. "It seems wrong somehow."

Tamao nodded. "I still don't understand why we had all of those hand prints on us this morning."

"Isn't it obvious?"She looked to Faust, who stood pulling the white gloves off. "Yoh-kun wanted to communicate with us."

Lyserg stood up, then sighed. "I'm gonna go to bed, alright?"

Ryu nodded, then smiled. "You did it, Lyserg-chan. You solved the case."

The emerald shaman's face reddened a little, then he left the room with no response.

Ring! Ring! Mikihisa lifted his head, and started at the phone. "Nani?" He slowly moved his wife, then picked the small object off the table. "Hai! Muchi muchi?"

Lyserg climbed the stairs quietly, then entered his room. It seemed cold somehow. He closed the door, then stared into the mirror on the far wall. It was done. The murderers had been found and punished. He sighed as he approached the reflective glass. "I hope you can finally rest, Yoh-kun." He lifted his brush off the dresser, then titled his head as he brushed his hair. There was a sound. A rattle. "Nani?" He froze when he saw the dark figure behind him. It faced away from him, it's head hung. The emerald shaman found himself trembling. "Yoh-kun?" The rattling grew louder, and he knew what was coming. He slowly looked back to meet his fate.

* * *

"Hai! Muchi muchi?"

And elderly voice began to speak. "Mikihisa, it's goos to hear that you're well."

"Aa, Kino. You wouldn't believe what's been happening the past few days."

"Oh, I can take a guess."

"Yoh's spirit has been very upset and . . ." He was silent for a moment. "He tracked down the people who killed him."

"They're all dead?"

"Aa; except for the murderers' employer. We haven't been able to find him. We think once Yoh's . . . done away with him, he'll become calm and cross over."

"Oh dear."

The masked man heard the exasperation in her voice. "Nani? What is it?" He then thought for a moment. "Why haven't you come here? You could've helped us."

Kino sighed. "That's why I'm calling, Mikihisa. The killing, the deaths; it's not over."

"Nani?"

"This isn't Yoh's spirit . . . . it's a grudge."

* * *

Chuck: Ha! fooled ya, huh! The last chapter indeed. Hee hee hee. So, now you all understand the true reason why this fic is called "**Grudge** of the Asakura." It was also for Hao, but . . . yeah! For anyone who's seen Ju-on, or the American remake of it , The Grudge, you might've already figured out what was going on from that poem in chapter 3. Hee hee hee. As I've said, this fic ain't over yet! 


	10. Best Intentions

**Chuck:** Hee hee hee. I'm glad I still got reviewers. XD! I'm updating this on my Birthday! - I'm now a 17 year old! Eerie . . . anyway, I hope all is still enjoying this.

**Please R&R

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**Chapter 10**

Best Intentions

"A grudge?"

"Aa."

The masked man was quiet for a moment, then he became embarrassed. "I'm afraid I don't know what that is."

"Imbecile! Put it on speaker phone!"

"Aa." He fiddled with the equipment, then finally found the speaker phone button.

"Is it on?"

The group looked up hearing the elderly voice.

Ryu smiled. "Yo, Kino-san! It's been awhile since we've heard your voice."

"Yes it has. Now listen everyone. I'm sorry I haven't been able to talk to you since Sunday. The phone's been kind of weird."

Hao shrugged. "Why didn't you just come here?"

"I'd rather not doom myself."

"Huh?" Hao frowned. "What does that mean?"

"The ghostly image you've been seeing, it's not really Yoh. It's a grudge."

Horo Horo cocked an eyebrow. "Nani? What's that?"

"When someone dies in the grip of a powerful sorrow or rage a curse is born. The curse gathers in that place of death, and those who encounter it will be consumed by its fury, and become part of it."

Horo became serious. "What does that mean?"

Kino sighed. "It means you're all screwed. When Yoh died, this grudge was left in the hotel. Anyone who's been in since Saturday night is going to be killed, or already has been. It follows you around, and only a victim can see it."

Ren thought for a moment. "That explains the paramedics getting killed."

Hao shook his head. "No! Those were too random! Yoh wouldn't do that!"

"Hao, it isn't Yoh! It's a build up of emotions. It's . . . like a shadow."

Amidamaru sighed. "That would explain why the spirits and I can't since him."

Keiko stared at the speaker. "So, Yoh hasn't been killing people?"

"No."

Keiko sighed in relief.

"You have to at least leave the hotel. It's not safe there."

"Yoh-sama wouldn't really try and hurt us, would he?"

"It's as I've said, Tamao. It's not really Yoh."

"Wait." Horo looked to the speaker. "You said anyone consumed in it's fury becomes part of it. What does that mean?"

"It means it hasn't just been Yoh's image that's hurting people. Anyone who it's killed has and will also hurt people."

Ren cringed. "The bullies! Maybe the thing in the elevator wasn't Yoh, but one of the bullies."

Ryu nodded. "Yoko or Junen. It makes sense, I guess."

Tamao placed her head on Ryu's chest. "The pieces of hair on my pants were dark but they were to dark to be Yoh-sama's."

Hao sighed. "So it was Yoko then, or something that looks like him."

"As I've said it's the emotions left behind, though they're probably all connected to Yoh's."

Keiko looked down. "So . . . Yoh was either extremely sad when he died or . . ."

There was a strange bumping from upstairs. It sounded like it was moving around upstairs.

"What's going on there?"

"Just a moment, Grandma." Hao was silent until he thought he heard a muffled cry, then he looked to Ryu. "Lyserg's upstairs!"

Ryu was gone in an instant. He shot up the stairs, the grew barely able to keep up, then he saw Lyserg's feet pulled into Mikihisa and Keiko's room. "Lyserg-chan!" He shot into the room, then stared at the closet, seeing a pale figure pull the emerald shaman into the attic. "No!" He chased after, but when he climbed into the attic, he saw Lyserg disappear into the shadows. There was a struggle, the all grew silent. There was no movement, no sounds. "Lyserg-chan . . ."

"Ryu-chan, don't go in up there! Please!"

He was reluctant, but he finally climbed out of the dark space and hugged Tamao who's eyes were beginning to grow misty. "Gomen, Tamao-chan. I . . . I couldn't save him."

"Daijoubu, Ryu. You tried."

Ren cringed. "This is what attacked him at school."

There was suddenly a loud rattling from the closet.

"Crap!" Horo jumped back, and wrapped an arm around Ren. "We gotta get out of here!"

The group nodded, then they shot downstairs.

"Is everyone alright!"

Hao skidded to a stop. "We're getting out of here Grandma! Are you in Isumo?"

"No. I'm staying in an apartment building in Tokyo. I believe it's where Ren lives. Where is his room? I can meet you there."

"It's number 515 on the 5th floor. We'll get there as soon as we can."

"Alright. Be careful."

The phone hung up, then Hao turned to the others. "You heard her. Let's get going." They left the hotel, and soon found themselves on Spirit of Fire's back headed to Tokyo.

Horo rode holding his arms up. "This is is kind of cool! I've always wanted to fly on this thing!"

Ren frowned then slapped the blunette.

"Ow! What!"

"Lyserg just died. You wanna show a little respect?"

"I'm sorry."

Ren drew his cell phone and began dialing a number.

"Nani?" Horo looked to him. "Who're you calling?"

"Manta. He was in the hotel too. I gotta let him know."

* * *

Manta sat at the dining room table, his father to the left end. Mansumi had been going over different colleges he could attend when the phone suddenly went off.

"I'll get it, Dad." The small boy hopped down from the chair, and lifted the receiver from a small end table against the wall. "Hai! Muchi muchi!"

"Manta you have to come to my apartment!"

"Nani?"

"There's something trying to kill us! You have to come now!"

"Ren-kun what are you talking about?"

"There's something at the hotel called a grudge! Anyone who's been in the hotel since Yoh died is going to be killed by it unless we can find a way to stop it!"

"A grudge? What's that?"

The Tao grew quiet. "When Yoh died his emotions left a stain in the hotel, and now it is hunting down everyone who's been in the hotel since his death. It's killed his murders, who turned out to be Takashi, Yoko, Junen, and Goro; who were hired by someone who we weren't able to identify, now it's coming after us! That includes you!"

The Oyamada was quiet. He thought he had rid himself of the supernatural. "I . . . I can deal with it. I don't need you guys. I'll tell me dad, and . . ."

"Manta, only the people who've been in the hotel can see it! No one else can help you! Please come!"

There was another pause then Manta sighed. "I don't belong with you guys anymore. I'm . . . I'm sorry."

"Manta wait!" Static suddenly filled the speaker..

"Nani?" He stared at the black receiver for a moment, then began to tremble when he heard a soft rattling noise cutting through the white noise. He quickly hung up, then turned to his father who now stood staring at him curiously. "What is it, Manta?"

"It's . . . it's nothing." His father was not convinced. "Really, I'm fine."

Mansumi slid off the chair. "You know you can tell me anything, Manta."

"I know; it's just . . ." There was a strange sound from above him. He looked up, then jumped seeing a pale figure crawling along the ceiling. It twisted around in a strange fashion as it traveled.

"Manta, what is it?"

"Uh . . . I . . ."

"Manta . . ." Mansumi began to approach him. "I know what happened last weekend was hard, but you have to move on. You can't let your life wither away when one person dies. It takes a truly strong person to move on, and you are a strong person."

As he listened to his father's words, Manta's eyes followed the ghostly image. It was now hanging over the gap between the boy and his father. It stopped moving.

"Manta, are you even listening to what I'm saying?"

"Uh, yeah Dad. The strong move on."

"Hm, perhaps I should send you away to finish the rest of your schooling in America."

The figure suddenly let itself drop from the ceiling, and hang before the small Oyamada.

"Ah!"

Manta jumped back, then stared when he realized his cry had not been alone. Mansumi now stood leaning against the table and breathing heavily. It then dawned on him that the figure was facing his father. "Dad?"

"What the hell is this!" Mansumi drew a gun and aimed it at the corpse-like boy, then froze whenhe began to recognize him. "Nani!"

Manta stared. "I don't understand. Ren-kun said that only people who've been in the hotel can see it, but you've been here since Saturday night after you . . . . ." The small boy froze. " . . . went out." Pieces began fitting together, forming an image of death and deceit. It had been so obvious! Why hadn't he realized it before? "You . . . you killed Yoh-kun!"

"Nani!"

"Yoh hired the bullies from my school, and you killed him!"

The small man stared at his son, then releasing a long sigh, he lowered the gun. "Yes. I did."

"How could you! Yoh-kun never did anything to you! He was my best friend!"

"Exactly."

"What."

Mansumi searched through on of the folders on the table, then drew several report cards. "Ever since you met him, your grades have been slipping. That boy was going to destroy your future."

"Destroy it! My life meant nothing before him!" Manta then realized the ghostly boy was gone. "Nani?"

"Hmp! That bastard has found a way to pester me from beyond the grave. It figures." He began to approach his son, the gun still in his hand. "See! This is why I did it. He's nothing but a disaster waiting to happen. You stopped listening to me after you met him."

Manta began to back away from his father. "Why? Why did you tell them to do it in Mikihisa and Keiko's room?"

"His parents and me go back way before you were even born. Lets call it a gesture of disagreement." The gun was lifted once again, but this time it was pointed at his son.

"Nani? What are you doing?"

"I'm sorry, my son but I can't have you running around and telling your little friends what I've done. This is the only way."

Manta stumbled back, and hit the wall. "You'd . . . you'd shoot your own son?"

The man continued to approach him, then sighed. "It's a sacrifice I'm willing to make." The gun was pointed at the small boy's head, then the man sighed. "Gomen, my son. I only have the best intentions."

Manta shut his eyes and awaited the sound of the bullet, but there was nothing. After a moment he looked up, then started with widened eyes. Mansumi now laid on the floor, his eyes blank, and his head scarlet. A large figure stood by the man's feet, studying the small boy with black eyes. He was easily recognized. "Goro?" He was about to panic when he was suddenly heard the soft rattling again. "Nani!" He looked past the bully and found Yoh across the room.

The ghostly boy was sitting propped up against the wall across the room, his eyes dark and empty. "Yoh-kun!" He ran past Goro, and began to shake his friend's hand. "Yoh-kun! Yoh-kun! Daijoubu!" There was no pulse. "Nani?" The rattling began to sound once again, then the small Oyamada was scooped up into the cold arms. He struggled at first, the sound strange and frightening, then he realized how sorrow stricken it sounded. He slowly rose his head to look at the pale boy. "Yoh . . . kun . . ." The boy was suddenly lifted up, and embraced in a kiss. At first it was soft, as if something that one only dreams of, then he felt a strange substance entering his mouth. It was drowning him. He tried to spit it out, but more would enter. His eyes became misty then he felt his world become unstable, the room spinning and his head becoming light. He would have panicked, but his un-dead friend was now stroking his back and no matter how painful it was, he still had that comfort, no matter how small it seemed. "Yoh-kun . . ."

* * *

"Damn it!"

Horo looked to the Tao. "What is it?"

"The phone went dead! We've gotta get to his place now!"

Hao looked down to Spirit of Fire. "You have to fly faster!"

The spirit nodded, then began to double his speed, almost losing all of the shamans, with the exception of Hao of course. On a train it would've taken at several hours to arrive in the city, but with Spirit of Fire traveling as fast as it was, it only took half an hour. They went to Manta's house first, but when the shamans ran in, all that remained was the corpses of the two Oyamadas.

Faust ran over to Manta, then shuddered when he found his mouth stained with scarlet. "I don't want to know what happened to him."

"It's pretty obvious what happened to him." Horo pointed to Mansumi's head.

Ryu cringed. "Nani? Why was Mansumi killed? I mean, a grudge only kills people that have been in the place of death, but Mansumi hasn't been in the hotel in weeks."

Mikihisa stared down at the fallen man, then he sighed. "It all makes sense now."

The others looked to the masked man.

Hao cringed. "What are you talking about, dad?"

"I couldn't figure out who would actually hire someone to hurt Yoh, but now . . . I can't believe I didn't see it before."

Hao stared at his father, then realized what he was saying. "Oyamada Mansumi was . . ."

Mikihias nodded. "Aa. The employer."

Tamao began to weep, then she nuzzled her face in Ryu's chest. "But why? Why would he do such a thing?"

Keiko hung her head. "It's . . . complicated. Let's talk about it when we arrive at Ren's."

The group was hesitant, then they finally agreed. A note was found explaining that Keiko and Mannoko were in America. Manta's body was cremated on the lawn, Hao controlling the fire of coarse, but Mansumi's was left inside the house. They would not allow him the peace of crossing over. It was grim, but justified.

* * *

**Chuck:** Hee hee hee! How was it? I have to give credit to Falcon Strife for helping my find an appropriate way for Manta to die. I'm glad I updated it so soon. There's still s'more to come so stay tuned, alright? Laterz! 


	11. Solutions and Slumber

**Chuck: **Not much to say right now except . . . enjoy! -

**Please R&R Normal proofreader is still unavailable. Be gentle. -'

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**Chapter 11**

Solution and Slumber

_Twenty six year old Keiko Asakura sat on the porch of the Isumo estate. It was a cool spring morning, and the foliage around her seemed to sparkle from the dew that remained after the rainy night. Her baby in her arms, she stroked his head lovingly as she and her husband listened to the small man's proposal._

"_You want us to sell you the estate?"_

_Mansumi smiled at the bandaged man. "Aa. It would be the perfect place to set up a factory. Out here it's quiet, peaceful; there would be no chance of vandalism or children sneaking in." _

_Mikihisa grunted. "Why would we ever sell the estate to you; especially if you'd tare it down and build a factory?"_

"_I'd be willing to offer you and your wife an efficient sum of money."_

_Mikihisa chuckled, then looked to his wife with loving eyes. "I think we're fine just the way we are, don't you Keiko?"_

"_Hai. The plants and trees are quite healthy, and the water is crystal clear. I would never give it up."_

_Mansumi studied the couple for a moment. "I hear you're shamans; all into spirits and nature?"_

_The two looked up, then nodded. _

_The small business man played with a lighter as he spoke. "The time of nature and spirits has passed. There's a new world order. Technology is coming up in the world. You can't stop evolution."_

_Mikihisa smiled. "No, but we can slow it down. Technology is great and everything, but I'd rather have a world where people aren't all pencil neck slobs, sitting in a desk while a computer does all of their work for them. "_

_The small man cringed. "Do you have any idea who I am?"_

"_Does it matter?"_

"_I'm Oyamada Mansumi!"_

_There was a tiny moan. Keiko looked down, then smiled as the small child began to stir from his slumber. "Gomen, Yoh. Did the man wake you?" _

_The babe's eye's opened slightly, then he began to nuzzle his face into her robe._

"_Are you hungry, Aka-chan?" She slightly opened her robe, then once the baby had settled with his needs, she slightly covered herself from the small man's eyes. _

_Mansumi smiled softly. "You know, I'm having one myself. My wife is due in four months."_

_Mikihisa eyed the man suspiciously, but Keiko simply smiled. "You must be very proud."_

_The small man chuckled, then he took a check book from his pocket, then looked back to the man of the house. "As a future father myself, I can understand that you want your child to grow up healthy and happy. Why not sell me this old place? With the money I'd give you, you'd have no problem providing for you family."_

_Mikihisa cringed. "I'd rather raise him here."_

_Mansumi growled. "There's no changing your mind, is there?" The two shamans shook their heads, then Mansumi growled, and turned away. As he began to walk away, he looked back and smiled at Keiko, who was now cradling her sleeping infant once again. "That's quite a cute baby you have. I'd be careful; I'd hate for anything to happen to him."

* * *

_

"What happened then, Dad?"

Mikihisa sighed. "I got so mad I threw him off the property. His wife was in the limo when this happened. He must've been pretty embarrassed."

Hao looked down. "Once again, all of this relates back to stupid pieces of paper."

The group now sat in Ren's apartment. They were spread out fairly well, Hao, Keiko, Mikihisa, Faust and Kino in the living room; Ren, Horo, Ryu, Tamao in the kitchen raiding the fridge as they listened.

Horo walked out of the cramped room and joined the Asakuras, while holding a large sandwich much like something out of Scooby Doo. He sat on the floor by Hao's feet. "Well, we now know why all of this happened; next problem is how do we stay alive?"

Kino took a sip of tea, then sighed. "There is no known way to exercise a grudge. It kills and that's the end of it. The area of Yoh's is quite dangerous. At a hotel, people go in and out everyday. They'll all become victims."

Ryu bit his lip. "What if we . . . burnt the hotel down?"

The shamans looked to him.

"Well, when we want to release a spirit from a body we cremate it. Maybe we have to do the same for the grudge. Release it from the onsen."

"Dude!" Horo frowned. "We can't burn down the onsen!"

"It was only a suggestion!"

"Well it was a dumb suggestion!"

Ren thought for a moment. "It's actually not so bad. It makes sense."

"You too, Ren! For god's sake!" The Ainu kicked the floor a little. "Just because we lost Yoh doesn't mean we have to lose the onsen as well!"

As the younger shamans began to argue, Mikihisa watched his wife as her hands began to tremble in their clasp. Keiko was becoming too stressed. The man remembered what Takashi had said before he died. Yoh had known someone was watching him that night; that's why he phoned the group at dinner. It hurt the father to think of how he had done so little to comfort his son, brushing him off like a snowflake, but his family came first. He would allow Keiko and Hao to move on, then he too, would be able to grieve.

Horo was about to throw a blast of ice at Ryu, when Mikihisa placed a hand on his shoulder. "Nani?"

"Would everyone just calm down?"

The shamans looked to Miki, then slowly grew silent.

Kino sighed, now able to speak without interruptions. "Ryu's plan might just work. With the onsen gone, the grudge would have lose it's connection, unless all that it needs is the ground and not the building."

Tamao yawned, then she laid her head against Ryu's chest. "Lyserg-chan . . .:

Ryu sighed as he placed a hand on her shoulder. "It's been a long day, and an even longer night. Do you think this could wait until tomorrow?"

Ther was a long pause, then Kino nodded. "Aa. It would probably be best if you all had a good night's sleep after all that has happened," so the group spread throughout the living room. Ren offered Keiko and Mikihisa his room, then slept by the couch, where Kino had claimed. It didn't take long for the room to fall into silence. Everyone was tired. They either laid sleeping, or lost in thought such as the Tao did.

* * *

There had been so many bodies that night. Yoko, Junen, Goro, Takashi, even Lyserg and Manta. So many had died that night. How would they ever explain it? He sighed, then shuddered as he felt an arm wrap around him. Horo Horo. "Daijoubu, Horo Horo?"There was only silence in the dark room, but he felt the other boy curl up to him. "Things are pretty messed up aren't they? So many people are dead now, and even a few of our friends are gone.To think . . . this all started because Yoh died." The Tao felt his eyes beginning to mist up as the words came to him. "Don't you wish we could just . . . go back in time; before last Saturday? I mean, we could go back and stop Yoh from dying. Then . . . then everything would be okay again, and everyone would still be alive. 

Horo listened to the words quietly, then sighed as he pulled his sheet over him more.

"I know I'm used to seeing people die, but . . . this whole having friends thing is really messing that up. I wish that . . ."

"Shh! Daijoubu, Ren. Everything's going to be okay. We'll get out of this."

Ren sighed, then froze realizing how far away Horo sounded. He then looked down and began to tremble seeing that the arm around him was stained with a dark sticky substance. This was not Horo Horo.

The Ainu waited for Ren to speak again when he heard a strange rattling sound. "Nani?" He looked over then stared when he saw a dark figure looming over the Tao.

It began to almost walk it's hands up the shaman's arms, leaving dark prints behind, then it placed a hand on Ren's cheek.

"Ren!" The Ainu jumped up, walking the others, then he flicked the light. The figure was gone, but Ren remained, trembling and gasping for air. "Ren!" He ran to the boy's side, then began to shake him lightly. "Daijoubu!"

Mikihisa and Keiko entered the room, then joined the group as they watched the Ainu.

Kino slid off the couch. "What happened?"

"I don't know. Ren was talking, then that thing was on him."

The elderly women gave the Ainu a small shove, then began to study Ren. He stared up at the ceiling while gasping, and his body was slowly becoming cold. Kino waved her hand in front of his face, then when receiving no response, she felt his pulse. "He's dying."

"No!" Horo sat Ren up, then leaned him against his chest. "Ren, come on! Wake up!"

Keiko walked over to Horo Horo. "Here, let's get him on the couch." She lifted the Tao, then laid him down, covering him with a sheet. He still remained unresponsive.

Ryu cringed. "It'll attack us even when we're all together?"

Kino sighed. "It's not usually a grudges' style, but I guess anything is possible."

Mikihisa walked over to the couch, and started down at the ill shaman. "We were all asleep, so technically we weren't together."

Ren suddenly released a loud gasp.

"Ren!" Horo quickly took his hand. "Ren, daijoubu!"

The Tao trembled for a moment longer, then he slowly relaxed.

Kino took his hand, then sighed. "I'm sorry, Horo. He's gone."

"No . . .' The Ainu held the hand close, then hung his head, trying to hide his tears from the others.

"Ryu-chan . . . Ren isn't really . . ."

Ryu shielded Tamao from the sight of their dead friend. "Daijoubu, Tamao-chan. Daijoubu."

Horo now held the Tao close, as he stroked his cheek. "I don't understand. Why is Yoh doing this? We're his friends!"

"It's as I've said, this isn't really Yoh. This is the grudge left from Saturday night. It only feels the emotions Yoh felt that night."

"Let's see them then." The room seemed to be growing darker, and darker, when Hao slowly looked up to his grandmother. "I . . . want to see what happened."

Mikihisa shook his head. "No. You've seen enough people die tonight."

"I want to!"

Kino sighed. "Hao . . . this could be a little intense for you."

"It's my decision and I want to see it!" Hao felt a hand on his shoulder. "Huh?"

Mikihisa was beside him now. "Then . . . I'm seeing it too."

Kino sighed, knowing there was no argument now that Mikihisa was on Hao's side. "Fine. Do as you wish." She looked to the limp shaman in Horo's arms. "Hao you place a hand on Ren's cheek, then Mikihisa will hold your hand. That should link you two together."

Haopn approached the corpse, then slowly slid his hand past Horo's arm and placed a hand on the scarlet cheek. He then felt Mikihisa hold his hand.

Keiko cringed. "Are you two . . . sure about this?"

Mikihisa looked back. "Aa. In order to beat this thing we have to understand it." The room was already fading away. All he could see now was his wife, but even she was fading away. It was as if he was falling to sleep. As if jumping into cold water, he took a deep breath and prepared for the plunge.

* * *

**Chuck:** Hee hee hee. Short chappy, but the next one will make up for it. I've already started it. Stay tuned for chapter 12: "A Murder Most Foul"! - 


	12. A Murder Most Foul

**Rated: M**

**Chuck: **Here it is! A Murder Most Foul! I rated this M due to some of the content. Well, enjoy!

**Please R&R

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**Chapter 12**

A Murder Most Foul

"_It's just, I'm not used to being here alone and . . . well . . . I know I'm a teenager now and I'm supposed to be used to being alone, but . . . I've never really been left alone here without Amidamaru and, it hurts to walk, and . . ." _

"_Yoh . . . are you scared?"_

_The Asakura fell silent. He wasn't sure how to answer. Sure he had thought he felt someone watching him in the shower, but that could've just been paranoia. _

"_Hold on, Yoh. You're brother wants to talk to you."_

_Hao came onto the line. "Yoh, it's okay to be a little scared. Heck, you don't even have a sprit with you. I'd be a little worried too, but it's okay. If you're really worried, why not call Manta? That would probably make you feel better."_

"_Uh okay. Sankyuu, Oni-chan." He heard his brother hang up, then sighed. "I already tried Manta's. Mannoko wouldn't let him talk long." He hung the downstairs phone up, then began to pace around the living room. He wasn't sure how long he did this; maybe an hour and a half. He had stopped thinking as if he was in pseudo death again. As his feet grew tired, he realized that he had been listening for any sounds that weren't his. He smiled softly. "God, I really am paranoid." There was suddenly a strange growl. "Nani!" He froze, then giggled when he heard it again. "I guess I'm kind of hungry." He began to walk to the kitchen, when he found himself looking at the dinning room table. It hadn't been nice for the others to leave him at home alone. He grinned as he approached the table, then sat all of the chairs on top. That would show them. He giggled at his childishness, then entered the kitchen and searched through a cupboard until he found a pack of noodles. "Not the same as Ryu's, but it's something." After filling a pot with water, and struggling with the package, he stood waiting for the water to boil. What could his friends and family being doing now? Probably finishing up a well prepared meal, and awaiting dessert. He smiled at the thought of Horo gorging on a piece of cake or pie. Ren would probably sit next to him quietly restraining his urge to attack the Ainu with the kwan dao he carried with him at all times. How did he manage that, anyway? Ryu would sit between Tamao and Lyserg, receiving attention from both of them. Faust would sit happily, Eliza spoonfeeding him the sweet dessert, and as for his parent's? They would sit together, possibly flirting with each other as if they were still teens, as Hao watched from across the table. He sighed, then smiled seeing the water was beginning to boil. Carefully pouring in the noodles, he began to wonder what the spirits were up to. Hopefully not getting drunk on Funbari Hill again. He stirred his noodles, when a sound was heard. A foot step. "Nani?" Just as he turned there was a sudden shot of pain through his head, then as he hit the floor, his world went black.

* * *

_

"_Do you think he's awake, yet?"_

"_Not sure. He's moving around quite a bit." _

_When the shaman awoke, he found himself seated; blind folded, and gaged. His head felt heavy, as it swayed around, trying to register what was happening. Who did the voices belong to? He shook his head, then felt his hands had been tied behind the chair. _

"_Guys, isn't the rope a little much?"_

"_Oh Junen, knock it off!"_

_That aggressive voice, it belonged to Yoko. The shaman tried to speak through the gag. But his words came out muffled. "Oko? Unen?"_

_The bullies looked to the boy, then Takashi cringed. "Shit! Didn't anyone put that beeswax in his ears?"_

_Yoko sighed. "Didn't you say you were going to do it?"_

"_Oh, shut up!" _

_Junen cringed. "Guys, we really shouldn't do this. Let's just leave now, before anything happens._

_The blindfold was suddenly removed from Yoh's eyes, then he received a punch in the face. _

_Yoko sneered. "Oops! Something happened."_

_Takashi smiled at the redhead. "Junen, you know how much this guy is paying us! Why, with it Yoko could move out of his dad's apartment, and take care of himself long enough to get a job. Not to mention, Goro could actually get some proper help for his problem."_

_Yoh stared at the bullies quietly. What was going on? Why were they here. He heard movement behind him, then felt his heart sink when he found Goro. His face was solemn, his eyes revealing his shame. "Goro? Why are you guys here?" _

"_Don't talk to him!"_

_Before he got his answer, Yoh received a sharp kick to the ribs. There was several moments of beating, then the shaman cringed at his attackers. "Nani! Why are you doing this!" The boy's only response was a sharp kick to the face from Yoko. Spitting a bit of blood, Yoh cringed when he saw Takeshi approach him._

"_Look Yoh, it's nothing personal. We's are just doing a job, alright?" The boy drew a small dagger and began to put small cuts into the shaman's robe. The once beige cloth was slowly beginning to stain of scarlet. "You've been causing our employer some problems. We's are here to teach ya a little lesson." _

_Yoh stared in confusion. "Who's your employer?"_

"_You know em. Everyone does. The short man with the giant corporation."_

"_Oyamada Mansumi!" _

_Takeshi smiled. "Yeah, that's the guy. You've been getting in his hair, what with your affection towards his son." The bully placed a small cut down the side of Yoh's cheek. "He can't have that, so he hired us to teach ya a little lesson."_

_Yoko sneered. "In other words we get to kick your ass, and get payed for it." The goth-like boy crouched down so he was eye level to the Asakura. "Of coarse, it'd be a lot more fun if it was Hao instead of you."_

_Yoh spat in Yoko's eyes, then began to cry out._

_Yoko cringed. "Goro, shut him up!"_

"_Some one help! Amidamaru! Mosuke! Tokeg . . ." Strong hands suddenly wrapped around his throat, and began to tighten. After a moment, there was a strange crushing sound, then the taste of copper flooded his mouth. _

_Junen covered his eyes from the sight, but Takashi stared in amazement. "Whoa! Nice job, Goro!" He became confused when he saw Goro wore a long face. "What's wrong?"_

"_Oh man, I . .. I didn't mean to hurt him like that."_

"_Hm. . . ." Yoko was struck with and idea. He spread Yoh's legs apart, then signaled his friend to approach. "Goro, come and stand between Yoh's legs." _

_The massive boy did as he was told._

_The gothic boy slowly untied Yoh's hands, then looked to his friend. "Goro, you've always like Yoh, haven't ya."_

_Goro's face reddened. "Well, uh, maybe."_

_The dark haired boy grinned. "Well, I got a little treat for you. You and Yoh are gonna play a little game of pretend." _

_Yoh looked up a little with a mix of pain and confusion, his throat too sore to talk._

"_You're gonna pretend that Yoh's a girl."_

"_Sou-kaa?"_

"_Yep, and guess what else? You're gonna make Yoh feel like a girl. Now how would you make him feel like a girl, in a position like this?"_

_Goro stared for a moment, then realized what Yoko was suggesting. "Oh! Uh . . . "_

_Yoko smiled "Come on, Goro. Everyone does it. Think about it. It'll be your first, and his first."_

_Takeshi grinned. "Yeah, dude! Go for it."_

_Junen on the other hand, did not look happy with this. "Now hold on, guys! That's kind of extreme!"_

"_Oh Junen, stop being such a girl!" Yoko looked to Goro once again and smiled. "Come on. You know you want to." _

_The massive boy looked upon the limp shaman for a moment longer, then making his mind up, crouched down and opened Yoh's robe._

_Yoh shook his head weakly, but he was simply ignored as Goro began to explore his body._

_Yoh had never thought the bully could be capable of such a thing, but he felt the massive boy's actions losing their innocence as his hands ran up and down his sides. There was a pause, giving Yoh a moment of hope that Goro had been satisfied with what he had accomplished, but this was shattered when the boy suddenly began to kiss Yoh's neck _

_Takashi became excited. "That a boy, Goro! Whoooo!"_

_His grip tightening, Goro began to enjoy this feeling of power that was embodied in his actions._

_Yoh on the other hand, was becoming terrified. He tried to hold back the tears that were forming, but they escaped when he felt Goro pulling his boxers down with a free hand. Though he did still wear his robe, this could not provide any comfort from the impending doom he felt Goro building up to. This, combined with his injuries and the loss of blood he was already suffering from, clouded his mind. There was a moment of disorientation, then only one thing became clear; he had to get away. There was another moment of fondling, then when the bully leased expected it, Yoh brought his knee up. _

_Goro's cry of pain rang through out the house. _

_His head and chest pounding, Yoh pulled away from Goro, grabbed his father's phone from the night table, and with his remaining strength dashed out of the room to hide. _

"_Shit!" the other three boys stood dumbfounded for a moment, then dashed after him. _

_Like a frightened child, Yoh stumbled through the hall. He tripped, then felt more tears form, his body aching. His leg wouldn't let him get up. There were no spirits to over-soul with, no one to help him. He couldn't think, he couldn't breath. All he knew was that he wanted safety, so he quickly crawled for the only other room that would usually provide this feeling. In Hao's room, he curled up in a corner and hit the speed dial._

_Ringing. Ringing. Someone answered. "Hai! Muchi muchi?"_

_Yoh tried to speak, but all that escaped was a strange rattling sound. He tried again. Only a painful gasp could be heard. _

"_Hm?"_

_No. this couldn't be. Yoh began to weep, knowing his father had no idea it was him._

"_He ran in here!" Takeshi led Yoko and Junen into the room, then saw Yoh on the phone. "Now let's not get to hasty Yoh . . ."_

_Yoh trembled, and tried to speak to his father again, but all that came out was the sounds of a crushed throat._

"_Oh my god." Junen slowly approached him, then knelt down. "Yoh . . ." _

_Goro suddenly stormed into the room. The massive boy's classes hadn't taught him how to deal with being hurt in such a personal area, so he reacted the only way he knew how to; fully enraged. Tearing the phone from his hand, and knocking Junen away, Goro slammed his fist into Yoh's skull, then grabbing a leg, began to drag the shaman out of the room while the other three boys stared in horror. _

_As he was dragged, Yoh dug his nails into the floor, desperate to find anything to stop the furious bully, but it was all in vain, for seconds later, he found himself thrown down onto his parent's futon, over powered by the massive boy's anger. He tried to escape, thrashing and kicking, but the large boy slammed his fist into his skull once again, knocking him silly. As he regained his senses, he felt Goro tare open his robe, then there was a surge of pain as he forced himself upon the shaman. _

_Takeshi, Yoko and Junen ran in to control his friend, but found themselves in shock as Goro expressed his rage. _

"_Goro, stop it!" Junen shot to Yoh's aid, but received another blow, this time to the face, which sent him flying into the other two boys._

"_Junen! Daijoubu!" Takeshi helped the red-head to his feet._

_The bully was in him now, acting as a savage animal. The shaman wept. Without a spirit, he was no more than a human. Why was this happening to him? What could he have possibly done wrong to deserve such torture? Had his family known? Nothing was making sense to him anymore. He couldn't be here. He had to drift away. Go somewhere where his body wasn't being violated like this; somewhere where his family would protect him.

* * *

_

"_My my, what a mess you've made." _

_Goro finally awakened from his black out. "Nani? What . . ."_

_Oyamada Mansumi now stood at the door way, peering in._

_The bully held his head. He remembered exploring Yoh's body, then everything went blank. "Guys?" He looked to his friends, and saw them staring at him. "What is it?" He then realized he was pinning someone down. He looked, then jumped up in confusion, when he saw Yoh lying limp._

_His robe wide open and his body exposed, there were bruises from where Goro had gripped him, and splattered on different parts of his body and pooling by his hip was scarlet. "Oh god! I'm so sorry! I . . . I didn't . . ." He then realized Yoh wasn't moving. "Nani?" He began to shake him, but there was no response. "Yoh! Wake up!" The boy began to weep. "Yoh! I'm sorry! Please move!" _

_Mansumi smiled. "Hm? My good ness. You boys have done more than I expected. How fortunate for me." He stepped into the room, the examined the limp boy. "Yes. A fine job. I shall pay you triple for this. Those damned Asakura's will be quite surprised." He walked to the door, then looked back to the teens. "Get this mess cleaned up. I will pay you tomorrow," and with this the man left the hotel. _

_Takashi slowly approached his friend, then helped him to back away. "While you were . . . angry . . . you got really rough with him. He stopped moving about 5 minutes ago." _

_Yoh continued to stare up at the ceiling, not even blinking._

"_Oh shit." Junen began to tremble. "He's . . . he's dead!"_

_Takashi shook his head. "Okay. We, uh, we gotta clean this up."_

_The red head looked to Takashi. "What!" _

_Yoko looked around the room, then stopped at the closet. "In there!"_

"_In there what?"_

_Yoko looked to Junen. "We'll put him in there!"_

"_You wanna hide him!" _

"_Sure. Why not? It's better than going to jail, now come on, and give me a hand. You take his head." Yoko began to wrap the stained sheets around the body, then he looked back to his friend. "Get over here!"_

_Without even thinking, the red head found himself carrying Yoh's upper half to the closet, while Yoko carried his lower half. Everything was happening so fast, speeding out of control. _

_The Goth-like boy suddenly stopped and began bending Yoh's legs at the knees. "For a corpse he's pretty flexible."_

"_My god, Yoko! What the hell are you doing! Geez!" _

_Yoko opened the door then smiled when he saw the trap door in the ceiling. "It's perfect. Look at the dust! They'll never look up there!" _

"_How can you be so calm!"_

_Yoko looked back, then shrugged. "Hey. Life's a bitch and then you die. We're all gonna go eventually. Yoh just . . . got a bit of a head start."_

"_Guys, we can't hide a body!"_

_Takashi looked over. "Junen, shut up and help him get it up there!" He then looked to Goro, who stood staring down at his stained hands. "Don't worry, Goro. It's gonna be alright. This, this right here, it's not your fault. Yoh got you mad, you snapped. Totally not your fault."_

_Junen looked back. "Are you crazy or something! It's all of our fault!. Yoh was trying to defend himself!" _

_Another moment passed and Junen found himself helping Yoko to lay Yoh down against the back corner wall of the hidden attic. As he did, his hand accidently brushed the blanket down, spreading a black wetness through the boy's hair while revealing the boy's empty eye's. Tears welded up. "I'm so sorry, Yoh."_

_Yoko sighed. "Geez, did you have a crush on him or something?"_

"_He didn't deserve to go like this, and he doesn't deserve to be shoved into the back of an attic to rot away."_

"_You wanna go to jail?" _

_Junen became quiet. "Things done for self gain usually come back at you three fold."_

_Yoko shook his head. "You and your superstition. Come on! We still have work to do."

* * *

_

_After a long clean up process, which took about two hours, the boys finally stood in a circle at the closet, there hands held out. _

_Takashi eyed them, his tone firm as he drew his dagger. "We go home." He made a small cut in his hand. "We move on." He made a small but in Yoko's hand. "We forget." He made a small cut in Goro's hand. "And we never tell; agreed!" _

_Junen drew his hand back a little. "But what about his friends and family?"_

_Yoko looked to Junen. "They'll file a missing person's report, and eventually give up searching. Case closed!"_

"_But . . .!"_

"_Case closed!"_

_Goro nodded quietly, still finding it hard to believe that he had just raped a boy to death. _

_Takashi nodded then looked back to Junen. "We never tell; agreed?"_

_Several moments passed, then with a soft sigh, Junen placed his hand back in the circle. "Agreed." and so the boys left the house, standing by there vow, unaware of the movement in the attic.

* * *

_

**Chuck:** So . . . . . How was it? I hope it was okay. I originally wrote this chapter first, then I just kinda filled in the gaps. - Oh! Uh . . . . if your enjoying this fic, you could always check out my other fics . . . Hee hee hee.** !SCIF YM DAER** (Subliminal message) Well, laterz! -


	13. Expelled redone

**Chuck:** Yo, everyone! After reading some reviews and thinking about it, I've decided to use the alternate (Not to mention original) ending as the story's true finale. I hope you all enjoy this one much more, due to the amount of love I put into it. Enjoy!

**Please R&R

* * *

**

**Chapter 13**

Expelled

There was a shot of numbness as reality rushed back to him. As the room returned he felt himself become nauseated. He quickly clenched his fist, trying to keep his emotions under control.

"Mikihisa, daijoubu?"

The man nodded quietly as his wife returned to sight. If his mask had not been present, Keiko would've seen the tears that now streamed down his cheeks.

Hao awoken in a similar fashion, holding his head as he did. Trembling, he lifted his hand from the Tao's cheek. "No wonder there's a grudge. Yoh must've been . . . so mad." He looked to his friends. "We . . . we should go now. The longer this thing's here, the worse. There's no telling who it'll go after next."

Kino looked to the small clock on the end table. 12:59a.m. She sighed. "It's so late."

Horo still sat cradling the limp boy. "We have to do it soon. We have to do it before . . ." He stroked the Tao's forehead, then cringed. "Damn it, why did all of this have to happen?"

With the memories of the vision still in his mind, Mikihisa slowly rose to his feet, then walked to the door. "Are we gonna do this or not?"

The others nodded, and Hao, Anna, Faust, Horo Horo, Ryu, and Tamao joined him.

Ryu looked to Tamao, then shook his head. "Tamao-chan, I want you to stay here. If it doesn't work out at the hotel, we need someone here with Kino-san and Keiko."

The rose shaman was quiet as she nodded, then a hand was placed on her shoulder.

Anna held a soft smile. "Daijoubu, Tamao. I'll stay too."

Mikihisa looked to Hao, then sighed. "I'm not gonna keep you from coming, am I?"

Hao shook his head. "I should probably be there. With Spirit of Fire I could . . . take care of the onsen easily."

The group fell quiet. It was strange to think how quickly things had changed. Just last week, they were all sitting at the dinner table, laughing together. Ren, Manta, Lyserg, Yoh; they had all sat with them too, but now they were gone. It hurt them to think they would be destroying the building that had held them in union for so long. Their deed was sickening, but it had to be done. It was the only logical solution.

As the shamans began to leave, Kino stopped them at the door. "Remember, if you see Yoh there, which you most likely will, you have to remember that it's not really him. As terrible and sad as he looks, it's not him."

The shamans nodded, then with quiet farewells, they departed for the onsen.

The remaining women were as silent as the limp boy on the couch.

Tamao didn't wish to look at her departed friend, but found herself unable to look away. "Anna-sama, why do you think Ren-san died in such a way. I mean, it was relatively simple."

Anna sighed. "Though Ren was in the house, he still was a part of Yoh's murder. I guess the curse didn't feel his death should be dragged out."

Keiko sighed. "So much has happened. I wish it could all just be erased."

Kino sat observing the corpse, when she was suddenly struck by inspiration. "Of coarse!" She lifted to her feet, then began to search through a small bag she had brought.

Keiko stared. "What is it, Okaasan?"

With small hands, the elderly women drew a small burgundy book. "I think I might have the solution right here."

* * *

It was 1:30 when the shamans arrived at the onsen. As they looked upon it, they could feel the cold presence inside. It had been here that three deaths had occurred; Yoh, Miano Yoko, and Lyserg. Even without a grudge, the building would have retained a chill of sorrow, but this was different. Much stronger. 

Hao looked back to the others. "Before we burn it down . . . do you think we could try and save some stuff?"

The shamans were quiet, then Mikihisa sighed. "It seems pretty risky. We could be attacked."

Horo smiled a little. "We can be attacked just for standing here. There's no sense in losing everything. We just have to be quick about it."

There was a long moment of silence, then the masked man nodded. "I guess it would be alright, but lets not waste any time.""

Faust nodded. "I'll head straight for the basement."

"Horo and I will take the first floor."

Mikihisa looked to Hao. "That leaves you and me with the second."

Hao nodded. "Alright, let's do it."

The shamans were quiet as they entered the onsen. They had never noticed how much the floor creaked, or how the moonlight gave the rooms such an eerie glow. The building had definitely changed. When they reached the living room, Mikihisa sighed. "Alright, we'll split up here," and with a nod, the group nodded, then went their separate ways.

Faust quickly ran down into the basement, and began collecting his materials.

Eliza stood outside the door, keeping a watch for anything mysterious.

The doctor had just about gathered everything, when he noticed a small shimmer from his desk. "Nani?" He slowly approached, then titled his head, when he saw a small ring. It was quite simple. A silver band with a different shades of color on the center piece. He lifted it up, then realized the gem attached was actually a ying yang, composed of onyx and ivory. Observing the ring, he didn't even notice the door close, locking Eliza outside the room. The room began to grow cold, and the doctor felt a strange presence in the room. He knew it wasn't his wife. He spun around, but found nothing. "Eliza!" There was no response. He cringed, then turned back to the desk, when he suddenly received a sharp blow to the head. All was darkening quickly, and as he lost consciousness, he could see a dark figure beneath his desk. It grabbed his legs, then pulled him into the darkness.

* * *

On the first floor, Horo and Ryu were searching quietly, unaware of what had become of the doctor. Upstairs, Hao and Mikihisa were slowly going through rooms, looking for anything valuable. Of coarse, everything was valuable, but they had to find something small enough so it could be easily taken out. Hao carried a bag filled with a few of the group's possessions. They had been quiet while doing this, then they finally reached Hao's door. From it ran the strange marks in the floor. 

"Should we . . . go in?"

Mikihisa nodded. "Aa. You should have something as well."

The two entered the room, then as Hao searched through his closet, Mikihisa crouched down in front of a corner. He recognized it easily. It was here that Yoh had tried to call him. Here he had been abandoned. The masked man clenched his fist fighting the urge to sob.

Searching through drawers, Hao cringed not being able to find anything satisfactory. "I can't find anything. Huh? Dad?" He poked his head out the door, and found his father standing at another door.

Stroking the wood, the masked man sighed. "He probably had something in here. I'll check it out, while you look in your room."

The boy was about to argue, when he caught the sorrow in his tone. "Alright," and so he returned to his room.

Mikihisa slowly opened the door, then stepped into the dark room. It seemed strange to him now. The sheets were too neat, the clutter was gone, everything was organized; all was wiped clean. It was as if the room was on display somewhere. He had been heading to the closet, when he spotted a dark object on the pillow. "Nani?" As he approached, he sighed recognizing the orange headphones. "Yoh . . ." He lifted the headgear into his hands, and began to stroke them as he became lost in thought. Why hadn't he been able to tell something was wrong that night? Why did he disregard the phone call? He was sure that if he had left the restaurant right after that he could've done something. "I should have been able to recognize you." There was a strange rush of cold, then he heard a strange sound. It was almost like a rattling. "Nani?" He began to look around, when he saw a hand lunge out from under the futon. It was a pale, almost bluish hand. It searched around, then was joined by another as a mass of dark hair slugged out of the covers.

"Dad! Daijoubu!" The younger Asakura ran in, then seeing the sight, stumbled backward. "Come on dad! We have to get out of here!"

"Aa!" The two shot out of the room, heading for the stairs. As Hao ran down them, Mikihisa froze hearing the soft rattling once again. He trembled at first, his natural instinct to survive being shaken, but when he looked to the side to see his son.

He was just sitting there, leaned against the wall. His eyes held a look of sorrow as a tear slowly made it's way down his cheek, yet he didn't move. He was motionless, still as a corpse.

"Yoh?"

The boy's eyes suddenly looked up, then he lifted to his feet, his body still damaged from the bully's act..

As he continued to stare at his once happy child, Mikihisa felt his eyes go misty. "Yoh . . ."

Hao halted hearing his father's voice. "Nani? Dad! Get away from him!"

The masked-man didn't even hear his living son. He was lost in this moment of agony.

The ghostly boy took a soft step, then lifted his arms up to the man.

It took Mikihisa a moment to realize that he was slowly walking towards him. Once he did, he knew that his son was going to finish him off, just as he did with Lyserg, Ren and the bullies, so rather than run, he merely walked over to is son, and wrapped his arms around him, pulling him into a warm hug.

"Dad, it's not him! Get away from him!"

The words didn't reach him. There was a moment of silence, than he felt his body weakening. "Gomenasi, Yoh," and with that, he was overcome by a feeling of cold, than he slowly fell to the floor.

"It's just, I'm not used to being here alone and . . . well . . . I know I'm a teenager now and I'm supposed to be used to being alone, but . . . I've never really been left alone here without Amidamaru and, it hurts to walk, and . . ."

* * *

Bang! After a moment of disorientation, Mikihisa opened his eyes to find himself on the floor of the restaurant they had visited almost a week ago. The phone was still in hand, and turned on. 

"Dad? Daijoubu?"

He slowly rose to his chair, than looked to the group who all looked as stunned as he did. "Uh, yeah Yoh. I'm fine. Just fell out of my chair."

"Fell out of your chair? How did you manage that?"

"I was ,uh, leaning back in it, I guess."

"You guess?"

"Yoh, can I let you go?"

"Uh, sure."

Mikihisa flipped the phone shut, than looked to the group. "What's going on?"

Ren stared at his hands as Horo held him. "Whoa, I died. Again."

Lyserg held his throat, still gasping for air. "What the heck happened!"

Hao looked around. "We're back to Saturday night."

The cell phone suddenly rung. "Nani?" Mikihisa lifted it, then flipped the lid. "Hai! Muchi muchi?"

"This is your chance to undo everything."

"Okaasan?"

"I couldn't find a way to get rid of a grudge, so I we did the next best thing. Keiko, Anna, Tamao and I rewound time. This is your one chance to fix things, now get to it," and with that she hung up.

Mikihisa stared at the phone, then looked up. "You . . . all remember what happened, right?"

The group nodded.

Hao stood up. "We have to get home!"

The group shot out of the restaurant, praying they would return home in time. They couldn't allow it to happen again. Not again. They only had one chance.

* * *

The onsen was quiet; the floors clean, and the lights off. Hao had noticed that the door was unlocked as he rushed in. "Yoh! Daijoubu!" Silence. "Come on!" The group could hardly keep up with the panicked boy. He shot up the stairs, then froze seeing the familiar lines in the floor. "No . . ." His parents' door stood partially open, revealing a dark room. 

Tamao's eyes became misty. "We're too late, aren't we?"

The group fell quiet. They had been so close, yet even time travel had saved the boy. Perhaps this was the way things were supposed to be. Maybe someone's death was inevitable.

Anna began to clench her beads, her hand shaking. "Yoh . . ."

Keiko slowly slid the door open, then entered the dark room. The closet was sealed, and the phone held the same streak of red as it had before. They were indeed too late. Much too late.

"Keiko?"

The women turned to her husband. "What do we do . . . now?"

Miki adjusted the mask quietly, trying to hide his emotions, then he looked to the unforgiving door. "We should . . . probably get him down from there." As he began to approach the door, Hao ran in front of him.

"Could I get? Please?" There was only a slow nod, then Hao slid the door open, and pushed his way into the attic. Making a small orb of fire, the shaman began to crawl along the floorboards, trembling as they creaked. It only took a matter of minutes before he could see the boy propped up against the wall. "Ototo . . ." He made his way over, then studied his brother.

Part of the sheet was lowered revealing the scarlet through his hair, and the dark sad eyes. Hao had felt himself becoming nauseated, when he noticed the sheets were stained with hand prints. Some were placed on simply, while others were smeared giving them a demonic appearance. Hao practically cried out recognizing the prints from that morning. He then noticed softer ones slowly appearing on the once white sheet. "Nani!" It took him a moment to realize that these prints were actually sinking though the material. "Did the curse start this soon?" He placed his hand on the newest print, then flinched when he realized he had placed his hand against another; one that was living. "Yoh!"

A tear of rose fell from the limp boy's eye as they partially closed.

"Oh my god. You . . . you woke up after they left you, and you couldn't get up or talk . . ." Nausea returned to the shaman, realizing that the grudge had been formed not from anger, but sorrow.

"Hao, what's going on!"

The shaman looked back hearing his father's voice, then returned to his brother. "Yoh, it's gonna be okay! That was Dad. Mom and everyone else are down there too, and we're gonna make you all better."

Yoh began to tremble as a soft smile formed. He could just barely make out his brother, but he knew it was him. They hadn't left him.

"That's right Yoh. It's me." Hao began to stroke his brother's cheek, when he noticed his brother's smile. "Huh? How can you smile like that?"

The limp shaman silently mouthed something, then closed his eyes.

"No! Yoh, please hold on! Just a little longer!"

"What's going on up there!"

"Dad, Yoh's not dead!"

"Nani!"

The Asakura began to shake his brother. "Yoh! Wake up!"He felt the boy's pulse, then feeling it was weakening, he wrapped his arms around him, an lifted him up.

The group was shocked when Hao climbed out of the attic with the shaman.

"Yoh!" Keiko ran to him, but Hao handed him to Faust. "You have to help him! He's barely alive."

The doctor stared dumbstruck for a moment, then quickly regaining consciousness, he shot for the basement. The group followed, and as they did, they preyed that their friend would be alright. He had to get survive; he had to.

Epilogue

They stood on Funbari hill quietly as the flames consumed the once warm flesh. Faust had worked for hours trying to resuscitate the fallen boy, but nothing had worked. Ryu held Tamao and Lyserg close, happy times of the boy playing through their heads. Manta stood with Keiko and Mikihisa, practically hiding behind them. Horo wrapped an arm around Ren's waist, and the boy accepted the gesture warmly.

Behind the group, Hao watched the sight with misty eyes. "It wasn't fair. After all that happened,you still had to suffer." He took a long sigh, when he caught something in the cornor of his eye. He turned his head slightly and fell silent seeing the faded image of his brother walking away. "Yoh?"

The ghostly boy paused, then slowly looked back to his brother. There was a moment of silence, then he mouthed the same words he had before. A soft smile formed on his face, then he slowly turned away from his past and walked into peace.

As he did, Hao felt a new realization form. Though they hadn't saved Yoh's life or body, his soul was now free and able to rest knowing his friends and family loved him. They had tried to save him, and that was eternal. There would be no curse form this death and Hao smiled as he remembered his brother's final message.

"_Sankyuu."

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**Chuck:** Ta daa! Much better, don't you think? Though it's sadder I found that this ending suited the story better. Yoh's death proved that not everything can be fixed by going back in time. I dedicate this final chapter to Yumeorb for helping to convince me that this ending was better suited. Well, TTFN!


End file.
